The Open Door Mission is planning a $5 million expansion to its facility on West Main Street, adding 80 beds for the homeless to the shelter.
The expansion would renovate the second and third floors above the shelter’s main office at 80 W. Main St. The plan is to move shelter residents currently living in a congregant living environment there, to longer-term living on West Main.
The new shelter space would feature two-man private rooms, an on-site medical clinic, community and dining spaces, and a “bridge program” meant to help people transition from emergency shelter into addiction recovery or mental health services.
Robert Williams is the new CEO of Open Door Mission. He stepped into the role last month, after serving as vice president of operations overseeing space optimization and property management, among other things. He described the model as a “homeless residential facility.”
“You don't have 20, 30, 40, men in a room,” Williams said. “Here, you have two or three men in a room, usually 10 by 10, 10 by 15. So, it gives them the privatization that they need, and it really decompresses that congregate living environment.”
The facility is expected to begin construction next year and be finished in 2028. The goal had been to begin construction by the end of 2024, with a congregate model that aimed to double the size of its residential recovery program, relocating those beds to the Wegman Building, while freeing up Open Door’s building on North Plymouth Avenue for emergency housing.
The move to expand comes as the Open Door Mission, like most other shelters in the Rochester area, has struggled to meet the demand for shelter space. The facility currently has about 50 beds. Williams said there would frequently be well over 100 men in the shelter.
“There was a time when we had the room to bring them in, and we did, but the numbers continued to increase,” Williams said. “Where it just became, now, just not safe having your shelter 150% over capacity.”
The struggle for Open Door Mission to meet the demand for shelter space is not unique.
In Monroe County, the annual point in time count of the homeless population has shown a dramatic increase in recent years. In 2025, the most recent report, the number of people experiencing homelessness came in at 1,194. That figure is more than double the amount counted in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the highest on record since at least 2007. The previous highest count was in 2024, when 1,056 people were counted.
The point in time count is a single day tally of people experiencing homelessness performed annually, typically in January.
At the same time, the shelter options have been stagnant.
Last year, Project Haven closed its last shelter, which was located on Barberry Terrace. At the time, it was the city’s only low-barrier shelter – meaning the shelter takes anyone regardless of addiction or past infractions. Project Haven at its peak boasted six shelters totaling about 80 beds.
A new low barrier shelter, La Madonna della Strada, opened in October at a former Open Door Mission site on West Main Street last fall, although it has a much smaller capacity with room for about 25 people. A year earlier, Monroe County opened an emergency shelter in Corn Hill called Moving Forward Family Shelter. That facility has 58 beds.
Williams said the reason for the uptick in homelessness is nuanced, but is an intersection of economics, mental health, and addiction. And he said it will take more than just the Open Door Mission to meet the need.
“I think there could certainly be a lot more collaboration,” Williams said. “There's an old adage that it takes a village. The Open Door Mission certainly can't do it alone. The city can't do it alone. The county can't do it alone.”
