Tiny Home Village Trransitional Housing for Those Experiencing Homelessness

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

The homelessness issue in Albuquerque/Bernalillo County has become acute, costing the city and county millions of dollars a year in emergency services. While the county and city offer a variety of outstanding services to people living on the street, individuals are still “falling between the cracks,” and services need to be provided on a case-by-case basis. The Tiny Home Village project, a community first model, will help fill gaps in the existing services while also providing an alternative to current interventions that are not able to adequately address each individual’s specific needs. The THV model provides one option to fill the gap of housing and services for those living on the street. The stability that even temporary communal networks, activities and resources can bring during and post traumatic experiences, may become as important as the stability traditionally associated with long-term permanent housing and ownership. An alternative to traditional affordable housing is necessary as communities are finding it more and more difficult to secure funding to increase affordable housing. While adding to a community’s permanent supportive housing is ideal, much depends on local governments’ ability to secure funding for housing vouchers.Supportive housing was identified in the Bernalillo County 2014 Behavioral Health Task Force Recommendations as a key priority area for improvement in behavioral health. The recommendation noted that housing is a key component for long term stabilization, and that recipients of housing assistance had an 84% decrease in inpatient mental health services and a 34% reduction in outpatient mental health and emergency room costs. Given the proposed services for the Village, the outcomes would apply to this community first model of supportive transitional housing as well.