HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) – After years of searching for the perfect site, Open Door Ministries is confident they will soon start construction on its new shelter and day center in High Point. Open Door is not disclosing where until Guilford County has officially signed off on the project. The building itself can only be helpful if the right staff and services are inside. In the past few years, Open Door Ministries has made huge strides to make their Centennial Street facility and the surrounding neighborhood a safe place for everyone and they plan to take that model into their new facility. “It will be transformational for not just for the High Point area but all of Guilford County,” said Ryan Ross, Open Door Ministries Executive Director. It will be a shelter with much needed beds and a day center to meet all the other needs. Greensboro faith community comes together to provide more shelter space “Whatever that may be whether you need some healthcare, you need mental health counseling, if you need substance abuse counseling, if you just need a place to wash your clothes and take a shower, the daily necessities we are going to be there,” Ross said. That is just phase one of the project. Phase two would be small transitional housing and phase three would be longer-term affordable housing. All three phases would be on the same campus  “The goal is to have turnkey service so that way if you come to open door, whatever your needs are, we will be able to meet it at that point,” Ross said. The entire property will be fenced in. “We are going to have cameras, we are going to have security officers, everything that is necessary,” said Orel Henry, the Director of Operations at Open Door Ministries. While Open Door waits to start construction, there is work behind the scenes. “The main thing for me in this part is making sure we have the right staff so what we do, we make sure to hire the people with the right experience, as well as the compassion for people,” Henry said. The concept of a day center is new for Open Door but they have done their research to get this right. “I’ve been to 11 different day center shelters around the country all the way from Florida to New York, Chicago to Arkansas, we are not looking to remake the wheel, we will take what works at some of the best ones out there and put them all together,” Ross said. Guilford County group works to prevent youth homelessness The need grows each day, their services have tripled this year and they cannot wait any longer to get started. “We know what we are doing, people will be safe, people will be served and will be served well and efficiently and mainly people will get what they need,” Henry said. Guilford County Commissioners are scheduled to tour the potential property next week and plan to vote next month. Once it’s in Open Door’s hands, they hope to be up and running in about a year and a half.