A temporary tiny-house community for homeless people — similar to those in Seattle, Austin, Texas, and Portland, Ore. — soon may rise from Urban Land Conservancy-owned property at 38th and Walnut streets in Denver.
Last week, Alternative Solutions Advocacy Project, or ASAP, asked the city’s planning department for a temporary zoning permit for Beloved Community Village. The permit would allow construction of 11 8-foot-by-12-foot shelters, as well as communal kitchen, bathroom and shower facilities.
“We have a significant amount of funding already committed to the project,” said Benjamin Dunning, of Homeless Out Loud, which is a member of ASAP. A crowdfunding campaign was expected to launch on Wednesday to help close the funding gap.
ULC plans to someday build a 16-story building on the property in the River North neighborhood, spokeswoman Christi Smith said. “Until we have financing available for that, we wanted to be able to support this tiny-home village. We haven’t finalized the terms, but it will be a six-month lease.”
The pop-up community will provide housing for up to 22 people, according to ASAP, a coalition that includes the Interfaith Alliance, The Buck Foundation, and the Burnes Institute on Poverty and Homelessness.
City officials have been talking with homeless support groups for some time about alternative housing solutions in Denver, said Mike Strott, a spokesman for the Mayor’s Office. Discussions about the RiNo pilot began in late 2016.
If the zoning permit is approved, the city would conduct a site plan review. The city would also issue building permits for the structures and inspect the project once construction is complete.
“This is a 180-day pilot project to explore a unique proposal to provide alternative housing solutions for individuals experiencing homelessness,” Strott said. “Our focus throughout this effort is ensuring healthy and safe living conditions for individuals.”
After six months, the buildings would be moved to a different location that is to be determined, Dunning said. “There are a lot of folks interested in making other pieces of land available.”
The project is expected to cost about $150,000, including moving the structures, said Tim Reinen, director of Radian Inc., a nonprofit urban architecture and design group that is designing the development.
Beloved Community Village will be completely off the grid, with solar panels providing lights and power to high-efficiency heating and cooling units, Reinen said.
Reinen traveled with members of Denver Homeless Out Loud to look at similar projects in Seattle and other cities. “It started in the Pacific Northwest, and then traveled down the coast of California. It seems like every day, there are folks proposing these projects,” he said.
Another tiny-home village is planned for land owned and occupied by St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church at 2015 Glenarm Place. Radian is working on the project with St. Andrew’s congregation and the Dolores Project, which provides services to homeless women.
The Walnut Street project is expected to be finished first.
“These efforts are very much in concert, ” Reinen said. “We intend to have a dispersed model throughout the city. This not just a one-off. We are hoping this is a real solution for transitional housing. Not a solution for affordable housing, but transitional housing, to get people back on their feet.”
Reinen said Bayaud Enterprises, Radian and Denver Homeless Out Loud are collaborating on another project: a mobile laundry truck outfitted with six stacked washer and dryer units, as well as sinks and folding tables. The laundry truck will have the capacity to do 8,250 loads of laundry in its first year.
It will cost $90,000 to refit the truck, an older vehicle owned by Bayaud. Bayaud provides employment training, assessment, coaching, placement and job mentoring services for homeless people and people with disabilities.
Water for the machines will come from city fire hydrants and gray water will be stored in tanks on the truck and dumped into sanitary sewers. Denver Water has approved the plan.