Subscribe!
Homeless in RI: Pallet Shelter ceremonial opening TODAY
Pallet Shelters and red ribbon cutting. Seems an innocuous combination, yet critiques are many. Echo Village is coming in nearly one year late and at a staggering $4.6M. As officials will gather today, congratulating each other for hanging in there and getting the hard work done, there will be no residents “home” to greet them. Those chosen to live in the shelter village are being selected through the CES system.
House of Hope, charged with coordinating the Village, has said that people could move in as early as tomorrow, a few at a time, until the complement of 40-45 is reached. Air conditioners stand ready for the summer, just as heating units sat unused all winter.
At today’s ceremony – set for 11:30 at the site at 1 Victor Street:
ECHO Village Opening Ceremony
The Rhode Island Department of Housing, House of Hope, and the City of Providence will hold the ECHO Village Opening Ceremony at 11:30am today, Feb. 11th. The village is located at 1 Victor Street, off Chalkstone Avenue (near the Foxy Lady).
There will be a speaking program and “members of the press are invited on a guided tour of the site – to get an inside look at a sleeping unit, office unit, an ADA accessible bathroom/shower unit, the laundry room, and the community room”.
Expected in attendance:
Governor Dan McKee
Joseph Shekarchi, Speaker of the House
Senator Jacob E. “Jake” Bissaillon
Brett Smiley, Mayor, City of Providence
Deborah Goddard, Secretary of Housing
Amy King, CEO, Pallet Shelter, state of Washington
Laura Jaworski, Executive Director, House of Hope
One of the things you notice, almost immediately is the distance to the Pallet Shelters in from the main crossroad, Chalkstone Ave, so for this event a shuttle is being provided from the Providence Marriott on Orms Street to the site. There is parking also at 133 Douglas Ave, if attendees want to walk in (approx. 7 mins walk).
RINewsToday asked if homeless individuals or advocates have been invited and have received no response by publication time, but the event appears to be a ‘media only’ event.
Once housed in the shelters, all services will be provided to the residents on site – while food is not mentioned, there is no easily accessible location for food, or even a coffee shop. The closest listed on any map is – indeed – the Foxy Lady. There is Blaze, a higher end restaurant nearby and the Smith Hill Market up the road. The assumption is food is being brought in. No other services are available in easy walking distance.
___
Pallet Shelter nonprofit reviews their 2024
11 states are listed as participating in the Pallet Shelter program, not all to address homelessness, but some to address environmental disasters such as floods, etc.
Pallet Shelter is a nonprofit organization based on the West Coast. They sell pre-fabbed tiny shelters, expanding now into 2-person, showers, offices, and meeting space units, all over the country. Their goal is to provide quick shelter for those experiencing homelessness, from poverty and housing issues to natural disasters. They are the vendor where the state and House of Hope purchased the Echo Village units.
In their year in review, Pallet Shelter notes, “As we look back on 2024, we are both proud of our advancements in providing safe, secure spaces for unsheltered populations and motivated to keep pushing forward. Even as we passed 5,000 shelters built in North America, expanded our reach into Canada, and released a new innovative product line to offer faster deployment and comfort for residents, the human displacement crisis persists—encouraging the Pallet team to continue working tirelessly until everyone has a stable place to call home.”
From 11 different cities in California, to British Columbia, to Santa Fe New Mexico, to the victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in Florida, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, the review touts the ease and rapid-response of their units. Florida units were assembled and opened in less than 3 days.
Denver Pallet Village
Just in time for the New Year and part of Mayor Johnston’s plan to house 1,000 unhoused Denver residents by 2025, the opening of the city’s first micro-community also marked the first site comprising Pallet’s S2 Sleeper shelters.
“This is such a symbol of what we wanted to create,” said Cole Chandler, the mayor’s homeless czar. “It wasn’t just about getting people indoors, but it’s about bringing people back to life and helping people thrive. And you see that in this space.” Denver calls it their micro-community. It will have 54 units. The units went up in the city in 45 days, with 10 different organizations to complete construction. The location is in front of a hotel which is designated for affordable housing development. The “village” includes areas for treatment, employment and counseling, a care area for pets, a smoking area and larger community units, as well as a unit holding two bathrooms with a shower, and another unit with laundry machines, according to the Denver Post. Go HERE to read more from the Post.
To read the entire 2024 report – go HERE.
To read more go to: https://rinewstoday.com/?s=homeless+in+ri and scroll to recent stories.
One year late and costing $4.6M!! And food needs to be brought in. Poor planning – wrong location – single or double occupancy? Suitable for families? At least a few homeless individuals out of the thousands in RI will have some shelter. We are happy for them. Those included in today’s ceremony should NOT pat themselves on the back. Shameful!!
All singles, Pauline. Don’t think they will be doing this again any time soon. The company that makes the Pallet Shelters has their founder flying in (at her own cost) for the event. We hope to be covering it!
I hope today’s celebration includes comments from the speakers that we can do better than taking over a year and $4 million to put together the 45 pallet shelters. Look at what others have done with political will and leadership. Meanwhile poor souls like Rico have died, waiting for mercy, compassion and action. Glad for the 45 shelters to finally be available, but we need our leaders to stop misleading the public by saying that there are shelter beds available. They are not available and people in tents and on the street know that. Why would anyone leave the relative warmth of a sleeping bag to walk miles in the subfreezing wind and snow to chance having a warm place to sit all night at a “warming hub”, or the unlikely chance to find one empty bed waiting for you at a shelter? It could me frostbite or death if you’re not lucky. We can and must do better and must demand more from our state and local government leaders.
Excellent points you make – we sooo need to do better.