Friday, March 29, 2024
39.0°F

Tiny home transitional project offers open houses

by Brian Walker; Staff Writer
| April 26, 2018 1:00 AM

COEUR d'ALENE — A nonprofit that envisions a tiny home village as a transitional housing development between Hayden and Rathdrum plans to apply for a conditional-use permit through Kootenai County in June and has scheduled two public open houses in May.

Gar Mickelson, executive director of Kaleidoscope Community Services, said the permit application will be for Pathfinder Tiny House Village as a two-year pilot project on the 5-acre site west of U.S. 95 and south of Highway 53.

"If the programming doesn't work, it will go away," said Mickelson, referring to the two-year trial.

Public hearings are part of the CUP process.

"If all goes according to plan, we will open the village in September," Mickelson said. "In its first phase of 10 cabins, we feel that the Pathfinder can help at least 120 people each year to stabilize and move forward into permanent housing and regular employment.

"We also feel that our community should not rely on the federal government to 'end homelessness' in our town. We can do a more effective job when we engage this at grassroots levels."

Mickelson said the site is not in the area of city impact for Rathdrum or Hayden, but he declined to reveal an exact location because neighbors have not been contacted yet.

"This will be done through May and our official reveal will come in June," he said.

The informational open houses will be Wednesday, May 9, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Anthem Church, 251 W. Miles Ave., in Hayden; and Wednesday, May 23, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Betty Kiefer Elementary in Rathdrum.

"We believe if there was better public education and opportunities for discussion and holistic engagement, we could address these (homelessness) concerns more effectively as a community," Mickelson said. "Ten-year plans to end homelessness are in the tank all over the country.

"As far as the timing for the location reveal to the public, that will be part of the CUP process and will include public comment meetings which will happen in late June or July. Until that time we want our informational meetings to focus on what the project is, how it will work and how people can contribute and help."

The village will feature:

- 10 10-by-16 cabins on skids with heat and electricity that can house up to two adults and two children; the skids allow the cabins to be moved;

- security and medical cabins;

- communal kitchen and dining area;

- fencing;

- shower trailer;

- portable toilets that will be pumped every two weeks;

- garden, playground and chicken coop areas;

- parking for 19 cars;

- transportation; and

- visits by church volunteers and community partners who will provide services.

Mickelson said the target demographic will be families, women with children, seniors and veterans who are "episodically homeless and motivated to change."

"This is a hand up, not a hand out," he said. "Residents will come through referrals from partner agencies, especially schools."

During the hearing process in which county commissioners approved some zones for transitional housing with a CUP, widespread public input was voiced. Some agencies including Heritage Health said the village would serve a need in the community, but some residents said it would reduce property values of neighbors and voiced safety and sewer concerns.

The zones for transitional housing with a CUP are in the county only, not within city limits.

Mickelson said the official homeless count for Kootenai County has hovered around 300 in recent years, but Heritage Health's mobile clinic saw more than 700 different people who qualified to be seen under its homeless services grant.

The Coeur d'Alene School District alone identified more than 400 students last year as homeless, living in shelters, staying with friends or relatives or in vehicles. Students are not counted under Housing and Urban Development rules.

"More realistic counts for our county would be in the 1,000 range," Mickelson said. "Shelters and transitional housing need to be part of the continuum of care in local communities."