Flagstaff Shelter Services Held A House Warming Event Friday At The New Crown On East Route 66

Flagstaff Shelter Services celebrated their recent purchase of the former Howard Johnsons Motel with a house warming event Friday morning at The Crown. FSS bought the motel, at 33-hundred East Route 66, and turned it into an expanded emergency shelter and supportive housing. The site is providing 72-thousand square feet, including 58 rooms, and is expected to serve more than a-thousand people annually. It will eventually transition to provide permanent, supportive housing to help Flagstaff’s shortage of affordable housing. FSS closed on the property April 1st and began to move people into the facility. Flagstaff Shelter Services Director Ross Schaefer says The Crown is “a love letter to Flagstaff and to Northern Arizona as a whole. It is a letter to our neighbors who deserve the best from our community.” She adds, “a letter that says your roof status does not define you. It is one that says we want you here.” Funding for the purchase came from the Arizona Department of Housing’s access to $40-million in State Recovery Funds allocated through the American Rescue Plan Act. Additional supporting funds came from Forest Highlands Foundations and the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation. The purchase increases emergency shelter for families, the medically vulnerable and senior citizens experiencing homelessness.