the room at the inn shelter

Sharon, 54, pushes a shopping cart full of her belongings on Dec. 19, 2024, outside Turning Point in Columbia. After getting hit by a truck five years ago, Sharon said she is “blessed to be alive,” though it has been “way too long” since she has seen her family. “I don’t like being out here,” Sharon said. “I’m glad for it to be the end of the year.”

KBIA News

A Night at the Inn: A KBIA Audio Documentary

Anna Spidel

Reporters Anna Spidel, Harshawn Ratanpal and Rebecca Smith take listeners inside Columbia's only year-round homeless shelter, Room at the Inn, for one night.

Turning Point is a daytime shelter for Columbia's unhoused residents. The city of Columbia contracts with them to provide overnight warming hours during the winter.

KBIA News

"Until we solve the affordable housing crisis, we're always going to be seeing homeless people."

Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval

Kari Utterback is a senior planner at Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services – focusing on coordinated entry and homelessness. She spoke about some of the resources unsheltered and unhoused Columbians have this winter, as well as about some of the roots causes of homelessness in our community.

Arts and Culture

Paul Pepper: Yvonne Chamberlain, Room at the Inn COMO

Welcome to 2016! Our first show of the new year features a conversation with YVONNE CHAMBERLAIN about Columbia's Room at the Inn, an 'emergency winter…

Faith/Religion

Volunteer response to The Room at the Inn closure

The Room at the Inn shelter is closing today as planned at the Wilkes Boulevard United Methodist Church after housing the homeless since January.…