In 2017, a Utah nonprofit founder reopened an abandoned fire station; then made it a job-and-housing base for up to five homeless families at once.

Nancy Davis Broderick was looking for a building that could serve families experiencing homelessness when she came across Ogden, Utah's abandoned Fire Station No. 3. The former firehouse had showers, a kitchen, restrooms, storage rooms, a washer and dryer, and office space, and in 2017, the city agreed to let her organization, Family Promise of Ogden, use the building without paying rent for a year.Broderick founded Family Promise of Ogden in 2014, according to KSL, as a local affiliate of the national Family Promise network, and it was designed to help families that are experiencing homelessness move toward employment and permanent housing. She had spent more than two years looking for a suitable facility by the time she found the fire station.The building is at 340 South Washington Boulevard and was initially Fire Station No. 3. It was no longer being used by the fire department, but much of the infrastructure needed for a family resource center was already there. The city agreed to provide the building rent-free, while Family Promise would cover utilities and maintenance.The firehouse became a daytime baseFamilies could use the former fire station to search for jobs and housing, meet caseworkers, attend classes, shower and do laundry during the day, and at night, participating churches provided places for the families to sleep, and rotated responsibility among congregations. KSL reported that the day center could serve up to five families at a time, and Broderick hoped the program could help more than 50 families during the first year of the lease.The arrangement also meant the organization could use the fire station without taking on a conventional commercial lease. Ogden City Council records show that the proposed agreement was a no-cost lease running from April 1, 2017, through March 30, 2018, with Family Promise being responsible for utilities and maintenance. Family Promise could use the showers and restrooms, while the kitchen could support the center's daily operations, and rooms that had previously served firefighters were repurposed for computers, children's activities, casework and other services.Family Promise's own history says the organization was formed in 2015 after Nancy and David Broderick, along with local churches and community members, began exploring a program that would allow families experiencing homelessness to remain together while receiving support. In 2016, the organization received nonprofit status, and Ogden City donated a retired fire station for use as its day center and administrative offices.The arrangement was temporaryThe fire station was never intended to become Family Promise of Ogden's permanent home, and the city approved the one-year arrangement while the organization searched for a longer-term facility. The model depended on cooperation between several parts of the community, with families receiving daytime services at the fire station, and churches supplying overnight accommodations on a rotating basis. Volunteers helped with meals, transportation, children's activities and other parts of the program.The transformation was complete enough for Family Promise to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony by April 2017, and more than 100 people attended the event, according to KSL. The first families were expected to begin using the center in May. The organization eventually moved to a permanent location, with an Ogden City document from 2019 saying that Family Promise of Ogden opened its new home at 127 24th Street in February that year, which ended the fire station's role as its main facility.The old Fire Station No. 3 therefore served as a temporary piece of infrastructure in the organization's early years, where a retired municipal building turned into a place where families could work with caseworkers, search for jobs and housing, and access basic services while churches provided overnight shelter.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.