The American Rescue Plan Act provides State and Local Fiscal Recovery funding to directly address the negative impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The purpose of this form is to collect public ideas to be considered as the City of Akron identifies areas of need for those who have been impacted.
The City of Akron will be evaluating needs and ideas that will enable the City to make strategic investments that will benefit future generations while improving services for all Akron residents today.
State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds are recovery funds, specific to addressing the impact of the COVID-19 public health emergency. *American Rescue Plan funds are not entitlement funds for discretionary use. *
Please provide details on your program or project idea. You should include the intended location of service and the intended audience.
We would like to create a beta test of 5 tiny houses on my charity's land behind 85 Kent Place in Ward 10.
We want to experiment with a concept that is being tested in other cities all over America. Kalamazoo, Detroit, Syracuse, Nashville, Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, Dallas, Portland. The list grows every single day.
We will build 5 tiny houses on the property of our charity which also includes our house. The house will provide 24-hour access to a full bathroom and laundry.
There will be security and 24-hour surveillance.
All residents will be required to take a psychiatric evaluation and then follow through with what the psychiatrist prescribes.
They will also be required to go to 3 to 5 drug and alcohol treatment meetings each week.
Additionally, they will be required to contribute 1 hour of time to the facility every day. If they have a job and cannot do their volunteer time they can contribute $5 every day they can’t do the work.
They will also be required to register with 211 and follow through with their housing program.
Not adhering to these requirements will make them ineligible for the program. They will be required to leave.
How does your program/project address the needs of under-resourced communities and populations? *
Tiny houses address needs that cannot be handled in traditional shelters. Social anxiety, pets, couples, belongings, privacy. These are all things that are not accessible in traditional shelter environments.
Additionally, as we learned with Covid-19, congregate shelters increase the transmission of a variety of diseases. They also increase things like bedbugs, rats, lice, and roaches.
We know through experience and interaction with the homeless community that many people prefer tiny houses and tents to congregate shelters for all the reasons mentioned above.
When this particular group of homeless people are unsheltered or living in the woods where they are continually not allowed to stay, it creates an unsafe environment for them and the surrounding community. It also makes it very difficult for service providers to meet with them.
This also gives the police department additional resources where to take people. We learned that the police brought a mom and her 3-year-old daughter to the emergency warming shelter this winter because they had nowhere else to take her.
We are learning that we need additional alternatives to sheltering homeless people.
Stoney Pointe Commons, an $11.3 million for 68-unit complex built in 2018 for housing homeless and disabled people is now plagued with rats. Formerly homeless people that moved into Stoney Pointe are now having to return to the streets because they are getting sick from the rat feces.
Haven of Rest, while a great resource, oftentimes has to ban people from living at their facility for various reasons. These people need additional places to find shelter. Other people find that their civil liberties are violated at the Haven because Christian church services are required before every meal, every bedtime, and receiving any clothing.
The other women's shelters are often full at peak times.
People roaming the streets of Akron who are not invited or able to go to other shelters are not only a distressing sight for people coming to work downtown, they are also a source of violent danger... to themselves and others.
We want to legally be permitted to shelter people that other people cannot shelter.
What is the projected cost of your program?
$1. All other money will be raised by private individuals.
Please provide examples or references of this type of program’s or project’s success. *
Community First! Village is the gold standard of tiny house villages.
https://mlf.org/community-first/
LA's First Tiny Home Village to House Homeless
Seattle's Practical Village Model: Tiny Homes for Homeless
https://youtu.be/FCViuEdmSr4
Stories From A Tiny Home Village: Madison
Tiny homes village for the homeless people in echo park downtown Los Angeles
This Tiny Home Community Gives Homeless Veterans A Chance - Working To End Veteran Homelessness - Kansas City
San Jose Opens Tiny-House Community to Shelter the Homeless
Denver: Tiny Homes Help With Growing Homeless Population
OPPORTUNITY VILLAGE: Tiny Houses as Homeless Shelters in Eugene, OR
EMERALD VILLAGE: a Dream of an Affordable Tiny House Community
City of Bellingham, Washington: Gardenview Tiny House Village
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis