Tiny Home Villages are micro-communities of about a dozen shed-like units for people transitioning from homelessness to stable housing, while SOS sites are larger, fenced-in gatherings of tents with services that help residents find stable housing. The nonprofit is now expanding two Tiny Home Villages, both in Elyria-Swansea, by adding five units to each. The bigger project, however, is replacing the tents at an SOS site with shed-like pallet shelters and installing plumbing in those new units.
"The SOS models were a strategic pivot during the pandemic to ensure people experiencing homelessness were provided with safe and healthy shelter experiences," says Elizabeth Szewczyk, director of development and communications for CVC. "By shifting these models to micro-communities, we will be able to provide a more dignified shelter experience, around-the-clock support, and increased stability for both community members and staff."
Like almost everything involved with the city's response to homelessness, this move has inspired considerable debate in the comments posted on the Westword Facebook post of the new CVC project. Says Kim:
Thank you, Denver! We need to help the homeless back into society by giving them the help they need. Nobody knows their stories of how they ended up homeless. Way to go!Responds Dave:
They need to teach them how to work and be a part of society instead of a burden on society. Otherwise, they get a free house, fuck it up and leave.Adds Taylor:
It'll be rundown and covered in drugs and trash in a year, just like all of the other tent cities. Y'all keep throwing money at folks who don't know how to properly use it besides finding their next fix. I was homeless for two years; I know how it works.Counters Maggie:
When I was living on East Colfax in a motel that charged me way too much and I was never able to save enough to get out, I would have loved a tiny house. Instead of making it, we left Colorado and now we are fine. Not every homeless person is a loser; some were down on their luck.Adds Drew
Nobody seems to understand what affordable is. These micro-communities are what affordable is. There is nothing to transition to. These need to be used as permanent housing solutions, not transitional. We wouldn’t have this problem if there was something to transition to.Notes David:
A Tuff Shed with a bed isn't a tiny home. Just a tiny place to stay.Comments Tate:
Welcome to the Blue State Homeless Industrial Complex, where instead of investing in the root causes of homelessness or just improving individuals' lives, we enrich companies with taxpayers' money to build optically cozy projects that objectively do not help the problem whatsoever.Responds Michael:
It’s all good as long as the citizens of Denver want and pay for this.But Grant wonders:
The throughput of the sites was mentioned, but what actually is the throughput? Are these things working? How do we know?Bennito L. Kelty will be following up on the project. In the meantime, what do you think of this Tiny Home move? What do you think of Denver's response to homelessness in general? Post a comment or share your thoughts at [email protected].
