Laura Jaworski

(Submitted photo)

After nearly four years of advocacy and months of navigating some red tape, a small development of 45 “rapidly deployable” pallet homes to aid Rhode Island’s homeless community – the first of its kind in the Ocean State – has finally commenced construction.

Known as “ECHO Village,” the $3.3 million project in Providence spearheaded by Warwick-based nonprofit House of Hope and the state Department of Housing, secured its building permit on June 7, according to Matthew Touchette, a spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation.

The green light arrived weeks after other approvals around safety measures, energy, and plumbing at the property – nestled off of Victor Street by a Route 146 on-ramp – were acquired from the Building Codes Standards Committee, Emily Marshall, a spokeswoman for the Department of Housing, wrote in an email.

“Once these approvals were granted, work at ECHO Village resumed and we are now on track for the fall to be open by winter,” Marshall wrote.

That latest timeline is months after previous prospects suggested the village would be up and running by the end of March – a window that was later pushed to May or June, as supply chain issues took hold and the bureaucratic processes played out, reports earlier this year indicated.

Now, as ECHO Village finally takes shape, Laura Jaworski, executive director House of Hope, is feeling some “reserved excitement,” she said.

All through advancing the project to this point, the region’s homeless community has continued to have urgent and dire needs. Even once construction wraps up, ECHO Village will require additional sign-offs from state regulators before the first move-ins begin.

Time, Jaworski said, is “not in our favor.”

“We have to uphold life safety,” she said, referring to the permit and code approval process. “I had just had more optimism that we were going to be able to move through that process a little more quickly than we ended up doing.”

House of Hope began pushing for the village, in some form, to provide shelter for the unhoused amidst the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic back in August 2020 and in the ensuing years, the state’s homelessness problems have only grown worse.

A report this year from the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness found the number of people experiencing homelessness in the state is up 25 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year.

And in the last four years, the unhoused population has more than doubled: In 2020, the total number of folks experiencing homelessness was 1,104, statistics recorded by the coalition indicate. This year, that number is 2,442.

The 70-square-foot housing units that will make up ECHO Village are built with just enough space to accommodate a twin bed and to provide heat and security.

The pallet homes, along with other structures including bathrooms and showers, laundry facilities, and offices, arrived in Providence from Washington-based manufacturer Pallet Shelters in January. Much of this past spring was spent securing needed approvals and working through any needed code variances or relief from state regulators, Jaworksi said.

All said, Jaworski noted how she and other advocates have watched other cities and towns around the country set up these kinds of “rapidly deployable units” at a quicker pace. In Boston, for example, a similar process took 100 days, said Jankorski.

“The reality is, though, my street-based outreach team is seeing firsthand the increase in need and demand for safe, dignified shelter – for safe affordable housing,” she said. “And to very much feel that in real time has been a very difficult space to sit in.”

Those involved in the project want to make sure ECHO Village is safe for its residents and the community, Jaworski said, adding corners have not been cut.

“But we also need to be, I think, really making sure we’re being really creative and trying to solve this problem together, so that we’re not losing sight of time,” she said.

To date, the project is about a third of the way through its $3.3 million budget – a “nuts and bolts” sum that covers everything from the units themselves to post-construction shelter operations, such as food and staffing expenses, Jaworski said.

Jawroski’s team is now working to figure out the costs for accommodating a few updates to satisfy state regulators, including fire-retardant paint and dry suppression system needed for each structure, she said.

Once ECHO Village is completed, House of Hope will manage day-to-day operations of the shelter. That includes case management for each of the residents there, “with the eye on moving people towards housing, however that may look,” Jaworski said.

“Being able to put something like ECHO village forward, and to be able to open it will be really an improvement in the lives of these 45 folks, and really will put Rhode Island on the map in its ability to be creative in addressing the crisis,” she said.