TINY HOMES OPEN
Community expected to be at full occupancy by the end of June
Suzy Sanchez Beg, left, and Marisa Vigil, volunteers with Endorphin Power Co., take storage bins into one of the homes in the Tiny Homes Village in anticipation of residents who began moving in on Tuesday. The nearly $5 million project was expected to open in October, but COVID-related supply-line interruptions caused construction delays.
After several delays, the Tiny Homes Village opened Tuesday, with the first resident moving in and the second expected to arrive Wednesday.
The first resident was identified as a man in his 20s who had been homeless for several years, and who has been staying in local shelters and living on the streets.
The village had been expected to be open in October, but COVID-related supply-line interruptions caused construction delays.
Village resource manager Ilse Biel said she expects five people to be living in the village by the end of February, up to 10 by the end of April and full occupancy — roughly 40 — by the end of June.
The vetting process for selecting people to live in the gated community takes time, as does building a community within the village, “which will make it more stable,” she said.
Among those touring the site on opening day was Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, who spearheaded the project along with Albuquerque City Councilor Diane Gibson.
“You can’t help people move forward if they don’t have an address and a safe place to stay, if they can’t take a shower or get their mail,” O’Malley said. “Now, they have a key to a door that locks, and that’s huge.”
Getting to this point was not easy. A “notin-my-backyard” attitude prevailed during a series of town hall meetings held to inform Albuquerque residents of the sites being evaluated for the Tiny Homes Village.
One meeting in August 2018 at the Man
zano Mesa Multigenerational Center in the Southeast Heights drew a crowd of about 300. The mostly hostile audience said they were tired of dealing with the area’s homeless population and the problems they bring to those neighborhoods. At one point, the crowd booed loudly during a presentation by O’Malley, who nevertheless pressed on.
The location problem was solved when, two months later, the Albuquerque Indian Center at 105 Texas SE offered a weedstrewn 1.38-acre vacant lot behind its property. Because the AIC was already providing services to homeless people, mostly Native Americans, there was little resistance from surrounding neighbors.
The Indian Center will manage the Tiny Homes Village under an operating agreement with Bernalillo County. Residents will participate in community chores and programs, and help with the general maintenance of the property. They can stay for up to two years while they take advantage of social services, find employment, and become independent and financially stable enough to afford their own housing.
The $4.92 million project has 30 tiny homes, each 120 square feet. A limited number of homes will be used for couples and five have been constructed with ramps to accommodate wheelchairs. Each home has a queen-size bed, a desk, chair, shelves and a closet. They are insulated, and have electric heating and cooling. Although attached to a fire sprinkler system, they do not have running water or indoor plumbing.
Residents have access to communal buildings with toilets, showers, a kitchen, a laundry, a library, a computer area and common meeting spaces.
The Tiny Homes Village was designed by the Albuquerque firm Baker Architecture and Design.