A development of tiny houses in northwest Vancouver reflects the multipronged approach that is necessary to alleviating homelessness in Clark County.
Community Roots Collaborative, a local housing nonprofit, is building 21 homes in the Fruit Valley area. Each house will have about 400 square feet of living space and can house one to three people.
Finding shelter for up to 60 residents will not solve the region’s homelessness crisis, but it can be part of a broader solution. The project represents the kind of public-private partnership that can be paired with other endeavors to make our community more livable.
It also fits in with the “housing first” approach to homelessness. The National Alliance to End Homelessness explains: “This approach is guided by the belief that people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues. … Client choice is valuable in housing selection and supportive service participation.”
Tenants will be directed to Community Roots Collaborative by Kleen Street and Community Services Northwest.
Organizers say Community Roots Collaborative has raised about $3.7 million from city and state resources along with private donations and community efforts.
As homelessness has increased throughout the region, there has been no shortage of local efforts to address the situation. Vancouver voters in 2016 approved a tax levy to support affordable housing, and city officials now are planning to create supported campsites for people experiencing homelessness. Numerous nonprofit community organizations work with the unhoused to provide services and shelter.
Other cities also are putting forth massive efforts to deal with the issue. And still, success is intermittent.
Waves of homelessness are nothing new in the United States, typically fueled by economic downturns. But the persistence of the current crisis — which existed even before economic pressures created by the COVID-19 pandemic — reflect a failure of policy.
Beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980, the budget of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has been slashed over the past four decades. That has limited rental assistance, along with maintenance for public housing, and has turned what was a cyclical phenomenon into a fixture of American cities. By 2010, the Obama administration released the first federal “Strategic Plan to End Homelessness,” but it contained little strategic planning and no funding.
One example of how the situation has developed: In 1977, a budget proposal from outgoing President Gerald Ford asked Congress to fund 506,000 new low-income housing units. By 1996, under the Clinton administration, funding supported fewer than 9,000 new units. The social safety net had been torn, left with gaping holes.
In short, public policy has contributed to the homeless crisis that now requires nonprofit organizations to provide assistance.
Tiny homes, which are more affordable than traditional housing (and also create a smaller carbon footprint), are one part of the solution. The Columbian reported that each home costs about $156,000 to build and should last 50 years. Chris Thobaben, treasurer of Community Roots Collaborative, said: “We didn’t seek just for lowest unit cost upon entry, but we saw it for lowest lifetime cost.”
Because, unfortunately, the homeless crisis likely will be with us for many years.
