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Oct 25, 2024

Charleston shares steel container rapid housing for homeless | News | postandcourier.com

Ali Rockett covers the city of Charleston, from inside City Hallto outer West Ashley. She previously worked at papers in Virginiaand her home state of North Carolina. Delenzo Crosby marveled as he

Ali Rockett covers the city of Charleston, from inside City Hallto outer West Ashley. She previously worked at papers in Virginiaand her home state of North Carolina.

Delenzo Crosby marveled as he looked inside the 80-square-foot steel container that could one day serve as a temporary shelter for men like him.

He spent six months living on Charleston's streets until about a month ago when he got a bed at a shelter in North Charleston.

"There is no negativity when you have a a place to stay," Crosby said.

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The former New York City transit cop fell on hard times when he moved back home to South Carolina, he said, and is now trying to get back on his feet. Transitional housing may be part of the solution.

Delenzo Crosby talks with Latosha Jenkins-Fludd while standing in front of sample pallet homes at the Hope Center, Sept. 24, 2024, in Charleston. These pallet homes, both single- and family-sized, are prototypes of ones that will be constructed as a part of Mayor William Cogswell’s Rapid Housing Program.

For him, the 8- by 10-foot space which features a cot, folding table and chair, shelves, four windows, an air conditioning unit and eight electrical outlets, represents safety. It's a place where he might find peace of mind and make a plan for what's next rather than constantly looking over his shoulder.

"It's a stepping stone," Crosby said. "The next day, you come out to a fresh start."

Charleston set up a prototype of the rapid shelter outside of the Hope Center, the city's daytime resource center where homeless people can get a hot meal, shower, clean clothing and access other services from mental health counseling to job services.

The transitional buildings, which take just 30 minutes to construct, are the centerpiece of Mayor William Cogswell's proposed regional rapid housing strategy. The plan calls for 118 units, each sleeping a single man, to be located on 2 acres of larger city-owned parcel in the Neck Area. If approved, the Hope Center would also relocate there, about 2.5 miles north of its temporary home on Meeting Street.

PROPOSED SITE FOR REGIONAL RAPID HOUSING COMMUNITY: The city purchased this 16-acre parcel in 2008. Mayor William Cogswell is looking at part of the site, about 2 acres, for 118 pallet homes that will be used as temporary, transitional housing for the homeless. The site could also feature a permanent building that will house the Hope Center, the city's daytime resource center that provides meals, laundry, counseling and job services. (Source: Esri)

Cogswell is planning to unveil more details about the plan — and its costs — to other regional leaders who would have to agree to help financially support it at a meeting Oct. 1 at the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments.

Logan McVey, Cogswell's chief policy officer, declined to provide the overall dollar figure ahead of that meeting.

Nonprofit leaders who work with the homeless population, or those on the verge of becoming homeless, each day appear optimistic about the mayor's plan. But they say the pallet homes are only a short-term fix toward a much harder, permanent solution: affordable housing.

"They're a good phase one," said Suzanne Young, executive director of Neighbors Together, a nonprofit serving the unhoused that operates out of a former church in North Charleston. "But you need a phase two, because otherwise they're just going to end up back on the street again and then what have you accomplished?"

A bed, shelving, and a welcome mat sit inside a sample pallet home at the Hope Center, Sept. 24, 2024, in Charleston. These pallet homes, both single- and family-sized, are prototypes of ones that will be constructed as a part of Mayor William Cogswell’s Rapid Housing Program.

Young is eager to hear how the administration plans to connect these individuals with more stable housing options. She is spearheading an initiative called Gateway to Housing, that she hopes might fulfill that need.

She also pointed out a gap in the plan if the temporary shelters will only serve men, and hopes the administration will address how it plans to also serve vulnerable women and children in the future.

Stacey Denaux, CEO of One 80 Place, the area's leading provider of homelessness services, was skeptical when Cogswell first announced the plan in May at a daylong summit that focused on homelessness and affordable housing.

Since then, she's met with Cogswell several times and said she understands his commitment to the rapid shelter model, though she added that "these units should not be considered housing."

"We are taking the mayor at his word that he is equally committed to creating affordable housing, specifically for homeless people," Denaux said in an email. "We hope that the Rapid Shelter effort will connect individuals to permanent housing resources in our existing network of providers."

Latosha Jenkins-Fludd, executive director of the Hope Center, said she loves the model, which is stormproof for wind gusts up to 170 mph, according to the company that builds the units.

"I wouldn't want to put our clients in something that I wouldn't want to stay in or my family to stay in," she said. "We want this to feel like a community."

Jenkins-Fludd also hopes to make the units, although temporary, feel like Charleston by painting them in the pastel colors of Rainbow Row.

The prototype will be on display at the Hope Center until the Oct. 1 meeting.

Latosha Jenkins-Fludd and Delenzo Crosby chat in front of sample pallet homes at the Hope Center, Sept. 24, 2024, in Charleston. These pallet homes, both single- and family-sized, are prototypes of ones that will be constructed as a part of Mayor William Cogswell’s Rapid Housing Program.

Reach Ali Rockett at 843-901-1708. Follow her on Twitter @AliRockettPC.

Ali Rockett covers the city of Charleston, from inside City Hallto outer West Ashley. She previously worked at papers in Virginiaand her home state of North Carolina.