Housing

Tiny homes, or homes with around 200 to 500 square feet of livable space, are being used as a relatively inexpensive way to combat the lack of affordable housing and homelessness in several US cities. In some cases, villages of tiny homes are proposed to fight homelessness and restore communities. In Chico, CA, where the Camp Fire of 2018 destroyed thousands of homes, a local non-profit fundraised almost $800,000 to construct a tiny home village for those who lost their home in the fire, and other homeless residents. In Rochester, NY, a tiny home village was proposed by a community group that formed several years ago to aid the homeless. The organization won a grant through a participatory budgeting process at the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative, but the city must approve zoning changes, and the organization needs to purchase land before construction can begin. A non-profit organization in Syracuse, NY, A Tiny Home for Good, constructed tiny homes on formerly vacant land for veterans at risk of homelessness. They built 11 homes since 2016, and received additional funding from Onondaga County through unused state Medicaid funds in 2019.

Rebuilding Together, a national non-profit organization with a network of affiliates and partners in 39 states, rehabilitates homes and community spaces for those who cannot afford to do so on their own. Created in 1988, Rebuilding Together works with corporate and individual donors, skilled trades individuals and associations, and over 100,000 volunteers to provide critical repairs and renovations to almost 10,000 homes each year. In the thirty years since its inception, the organization has performed services for over 210,000 homes, nonprofit facilities, and community spaces with an estimated impact on more than 6.2 million people. Their work aims to create safer and more accessible homes, allowing residents to age in place longer, while also preserving affordable housing options and stabilizing neighborhoods. Rebuilding Together is funded through corporate contributions, individual and foundation donations, government contracts, affiliate dues, investments, and other fundraising activities.

Chicago's Department of Family & Support Services (DFSS) offers a homeless prevention program to stabilize renters in their current home before their situation leads to homelessness. DFSS has six Community Service Centers across the city where residents can access Emergency Rental Assistance Program services, as well as a Homeless Prevention Call Center. Community Service Centers connect renters with short-term financial assistance for rent, utilities, and other housing costs. Residents can work directly with a housing stability case manager to help budget for the future and resolve existing financial issues that cause housing instability. At the Homelessness Prevention Call Center, staff assist qualified callers by helping them access emergency funds. Callers who are ineligible for emergency funds are referred to other agencies able to assist with each individual's situation. The city's Homeless Prevention Program and Call Center are part of a broader effort, Chicago's Plan 2.0, to end homelessness through housing and wraparound services. The effort appears to be working, as the total number of homeless in the city has declined steadily each year since 2015.

The Daybreak Day Resource Center in Macon, Georgia provides an average of 100 homeless women and men each day with showers, laundry services, a health clinic, service providers, phone and computer access, employment and transportation assistance, and identification and documentation assistance. The center is run by the Macon branch of Depaul USA, a national homeless services nonprofit organization. Although the national organization began in 2008, the Macon Daybreak Center has been serving the homeless ever since it was opened in 2012. Heart, Love, and Soul, a homeless services organization in Niagara Falls, NY is currently in the planning and fundraising phase of expanding their physical footprint and the services they offer in Niagara Falls. As part of this expansion, the organization aims to open a Daybreak Center that will offer the same types of services available in Macon.

Located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City, this non-profit housing developer provides permanent housing for individuals and families through a supportive housing model. This strategy combines low-income housing with services that enable residents to live independently, such as the integration of community-based arts and culture, medical and mental health care, vocational training, job placement, substance abuse treatment, benefits counseling, and assistance with independent living skill training. Families are also provided the added benefits of high-quality early childhood education, mentoring for school-age children, and educational advocacy for children and parents. Though Broadway Housing Communities is primarilly focused on housing, it serves as a model for mental health care in that it holistically addresses mental health alongside other needs.

The small town of Geel in Belgium has a centuries-long history of specialized care for individuals with mental health challenges. Alhough the model has evolved since it was first established in medieval times, the essence is still the same today: individuals with certain mental illnesses, instead of being treated in psychatric hospitals or other mental health care centers, are placed with families in the community. Referred to as boarders or guests, these individuals receive housing, emotional support, and above all, a sense of normalcy from their host family. In return, host families are given a small stipend to help offset the costs of supporting their guests and the honor of carrying on a tradition that dates back to the 15th century. Guests are fully integrated into the Geel community and do not face the stigma commonly associated with mental health challenges in other communities.

The Host Home model has been used in cities across North America and the UK as a means to find temporary housing for the homeless. A pilot Host Home program in Los Angeles is managed by a small non-profit organization called Safe Place for Youth (SPY), which implemented the model in 2018 to help homeless young people age 18-25 find temporary housing. Host Home connects those who are homeless with local residents willing to share their home with someone in need for a 3-6 month period. The beneficiary of the program is given access to personal case management to help transition into permanent housing, while hosts are offered a $500/month stipend. In 2018, SPY housed six homeless young people through Host Home at a cost of $75,000. Although four of the six beneficiaries of the program graduated from the program in 2018, the long-term efficacy and scalability of the model is largely untested. Host Home programs also exist in the Bay Area and Minneapolis.

Tiny homes, or homes with around 200 to 500 square feet of livable space, are being used as a relatively inexpensive way to combat the lack of affordable housing and homelessness in several US cities. In some cases, villages of tiny homes are proposed to fight homelessness and restore communities. In Chico, CA, where the Camp Fire of 2018 destroyed thousands of homes, a local non-profit fundraised almost $800,000 to construct a tiny home village for those who lost their home in the fire, and other homeless residents. In Rochester, NY, a tiny home village was proposed by a community group that formed several years ago to aid the homeless. The organization won a grant through a participatory budgeting process at the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative, but the city must approve zoning changes, and the organization needs to purchase land before construction can begin. A non-profit organization in Syracuse, NY, A Tiny Home for Good, constructed tiny homes on formerly vacant land for veterans at risk of homelessness. They built 11 homes since 2016, and received additional funding from Onondaga County through unused state Medicaid funds in 2019.

PathStone works to preserve affordable homeownership opportunities for primarily lower income households by collaborating with owners and residents of manufactured home communities. PathStone offers training and financial assistance to residents working to organize residents as a limited equity co-op. This process sees residents take ownership of the mobile home parks in which they live, together, to eliminate the chance of outside investors from sharply increasing land rents to unaffordable levels.

Vacants to Value (V2V) is an initiative of the Baltimore City Department of Housing & Community Development aimed at improving quality of life and growing Baltimore's population by restoring disinvested neighborhoods. V2V employs a number of strategies to clean up abandoned properties. The program simplified the sale of city-owned properties, and streamlined code enforcement in more stable neighborhoods to prevent the spread of blighted properties. V2V partnered with committed developers to facilitate targeted investment in high-vacancy areas near stronger markets. V2V also leveraged local, state, and federal programs to incentivize the purchase and rehabilitation of vacant homes. V2V also supports programs to help low-income homeowners weatherize and rehabilitate their homes for energy efficiency and cost savings. A 2017 report found that V2V was largely successful in targeting stronger markets ripe for revitalization, but less effective at finding solutions to the challenges that cause neighborhood decline, such as crime, drugs, and foreclosures.

Duvall Riverside Village is a resident-owned community (ROC) in Duvall, WA. In 2012, the residents of this manufactured home community formed a cooperative and bought the land from the previous landlord with the help of the Northwest Cooperative Development Center and ROC USA. Since then, Duvall Riverside Village has been managed by a democratically elected board of directors. The annual budget and any changes to lot rent are voted on by all member households of the cooperative, which results in greater housing security for residents in comparison to commercially-owned manufactured home communities, where rapidly escalating lot rents are common. Before the cooperative bought Duvall Riverside Village, monthly lot rent increased by approximately $25 every year. Since the cooperative took over ownership, lot rent has not increased at all, despite improvements made to the roads and the water, electric, and wastewater systems.