New tiny homes for Birmingham homeless are finally coming
On Tuesday afternoon, Glen Davis and Shay Jones had a fire going under an Interstate 65 viaduct in downtown Birmingham.
“The Fire Department don’t mess with me no more,” Davis said of the fire that keeps them warm at night as they sit beneath the overpass.
Like more than 350 others living on the streets of Birmingham, Davis and Jones are homeless.
On Tuesday, the Birmingham City Council approved funding for two agencies that will run separate groupings of pallet shelters as part of Birmingham’s Homes for All, Safe Sleep program.
The first group of 15 pallet shelters will be set up across the street from where Davis was burning his fire, at the Faith Chapel Care Center, which already offers services for the homeless such as laundry and showers.
“It’s a good thing,” said Davis, who grew up in Texas but began living on the streets of Birmingham after being released following surgery at UAB Hospital. “Some people have burned their bridges at home. They can’t go back home. I’ve been off and on homeless for about eight years.”
Jones said she has stayed in homeless shelters. “It’s not for me,” Jones said. “I like to move around a lot.”
But both Davis and Jones said they’d consider moving into one of the new pallet micro-shelters.
Birmingham has a contract paying Faith Chapel Care Center nearly $1.2 million to host and run services for 15 of the homes on their property at 921 Second Ave. North.
The Rev. Debra Blaylock, director of Faith Chapel Care Center, said she expects the pallet homes to be up and running this fall.
Urban Alchemy will get more than $1.54 million to host and run services for 30 to 60 micro-shelters at two locations in the city that have not been named yet.
The city spent $1 million for 50 pallet shelters in 2023. Blaylock said they’ve been in storage, ready to assemble.
The pilot program includes 50 shelters, along with accompanying shower/bathroom units that could be assembled to form a small shelter community. A two-stall bathroom-shower unit is installed for each group of 10 shelters.
The city hopes the micro-shelters and support services will address the challenges created by the intersection of poverty, mental illness, addiction, and homelessness.
“This will be life-changing for many of our unhoused residents,” said Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin. “These partners have a proven record of supporting unhoused residents and helping them get on a path toward sustainable homeownership. Everyone deserves a safe place to sleep and a safe place to call their own. We are committed to playing a part in helping to make that happen for those who need it.”
Faith Chapel Care Center will provide homeless outreach, case management, mailing addresses, counseling sessions, recovery meetings, independent living skills training, and day shelter, including access to laundry and shower facilities.
Urban Alchemy plans to create a “Wellness Village” housing model that includes landscaping that creates a peaceful, safe environment for the residents, a service-rich program model with care coordination. Currently, they provide services to the homeless across the country, including in Birmingham.
Urban Alchemy will provide care coordinators to monitor progress, make referrals, provide counseling, and offer other assistance; provide support groups, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, social events, classes, and other activities; and provide transportation to unhoused citizens.
“This is our opportunity as a city to demonstrate how important all of our residents are all across the spectrum,” said Dr. Meghan Venable-Thomas, director of community development. “Our most vulnerable residents in the housing space are those who are experiencing homelessness. This program allows us to meet people where they are and provide the services that are needed for healthy, viable, and sustainable housing long term.”
Venable-Thomas said the Urban Alchemy pallet homes should be ready by winter.
The city has been working with Pallet Shelter to create private, lockable sleeping units that feature a heating and cooling system and desk. The micro-shelters will be congregated in safe, private communities. Each can be assembled in under an hour and at a fraction of the cost of traditional homeless shelters.
Birmingham previously supported construction of a new Firehouse Shelter facility with $1 million, and AIDS Alabama Way Station facility for youth with $1.3 million. Each year the Department of Community Development provides more than $800,000 in federal grants to support emergency shelter and public service providers who assist individuals experiencing homelessness. The city has also partnered with Jimmie Hale Mission and other community providers to open a warming station in order to increase bed space for those needing a warm place to stay during sub-freezing weather.
Jones said she’d consider giving up her free-moving lifestyle on the streets for one of the pallet homes nearby.
“If it’d be suitable,” she said.
The City of Birmingham purchased Pallet Shelters to create sleeping arrangements for the homeless. (Pallet PBC Inc.)