Nonprofit aims to build tiny homes for former foster youth
A Tucson nonprofit wants to use former Gov. Doug Ducey’s shipping containers from the border wall to build tiny homes and a supportive community for transitional youth aging out of the foster care system.
Nestled on a quiet street across from a Tucson Unified food services building and next to the Bethel Community Baptist Church, a new-looking shipping container sits on a dirt lot. This is the start to the community Bryan Benz hopes to create with his nonprofit Wholistic Transformation.
Wholistic Transformation is a faithbased nonprofit looking to build not only a housing community, but also to create a support system for them. He hopes to build a community of seven tiny homes out of shipping containers that will include a resident justice navigator on two adjoining lots belonging to the church next door.
“It’s about restoring relationships, restoring community,” Benz said at a recent event celebrating the newly purchased shipping container.
Benz said each tiny home will be a one-bedroom house, with a full kitchen, bathroom, and washer and dryer. The residents will choose what it will look like inside, from the style of cabinets to the color and fabric of the couch cushions.
The current shipping container will be used by CarePortal to store beds and other items for families in need until Wholistic Transformation is able to build it into a house.
Benz said he was called to start this effort when he learned about the large number of foster youths who become homeless, which often occurs within a few years of leaving foster care after they turn 18.
Foster care: A highway to homelessness
The foster care system is often referred to as a highway to homelessness, according to the National Foster Youth Institute.
According to the institute, an estimated 20% of young adults who are in care become homeless once they are emancipated at the age of 18. Nationwide, 50% of the homeless population spent time in foster care.
Annually, 20,000 kids will find themselves aging out of foster care, often thrust out into the world without a support system or a loving family, losing access to services provided by the government, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Arizona has 11,000 youth in foster care, with 800 to 1,000 of them aging out of the system, said Luis De La Cruz, the president and CEO of the Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation.
His foundation provides a variety of programs to foster care children, helping 4,000 to 6,000 children in the system statewide, and offering a range of services from post-secondary programs to childhood activities.
The foundation also offers one-onone mentoring, helping transitional-age youth leaving foster care navigate finding housing and a job.
The reason why many foster youths eventually become homeless “is not the same as with every other population,”
De La Cruz said. “It’s not a symptom of a bigger problem. It’s not because of their addiction. It’s not necessarily because of their mental health. It’s just that they were in foster care.”
Once youth in foster care turn 18, they can decide to extend their time in care or live independently. If they choose to live on their own, they will receive $1,200 a month.
De La Cruz said many of the challenges facing them include high rent prices and navigational concerns. These include not having enough money for a deposit, a co-signer for a rental lease, or even the correct documents their landlords may require.
“A lot of the times, they need some upfront assets, so a deposit and maybe two months of rent. Maybe they need some credit history, and they don’t have it,” De La Cruz said.
Which is where Wholistic Transformation comes in.
Benz said its purpose is to create a community of support around the residents with the help of the church next door and the resident navigator and help the residents reach their goals.
From Ducey’s makeshift and illegal border wall to a community of support
Benz hopes to use the state’s shipping containers, previously used for a makeshift wall near the Arizona-Mexico border last year, to build the tiny homes.
The state has said more than 2,000 shipping containers removed from the Arizona-Mexico border will be available from June through September and government and nonprofit entities will have the first opportunity to purchase them.
The state is selling C and D quality shipping containers, that have “been heavily used and would likely have very noticeable dents and cracks,” the Arizona Department of Administration said in a news release.
For Benz, this means spending about $5,000 less than he paid for the current one, which will take more work to make them habitable and will have to be purchased sight unseen.
For Pedro De Velasco, a board member who works with immigrant communities, using these shipping containers to build community instead of separating people helped convince him to join the board.
“That’s a way better use than the one that back then Governor Ducey was using for those,” he said about the shipping containers.
De Velasco said he liked the idea of using the shipping containers to build community instead of keeping people out.
Converting shipping containers into tiny homes
The work that has been done so far, from the architectural drawings of the future community and of the inside of the shipping container homes, to the organization of the nonprofit’s celebration event, has been done by volunteers.
Although Benz is looking for funding to complete the project, he has the support of the community.
“We don’t have a lot of money, but we have a lot of people committed. They’re willing to help in different areas where their skills are, where their talents are,” Benz said.
In an email, he said all of the labor will come through volunteer efforts.
Benz said he is looking to raise $12,000 to complete the first shipping container. And each following unit will cost $40,000 to complete. The entire project is projected to cost from $400,000 to $450,000, which includes one year’s salary for the resident navigator.
Once they are completed and residents move into their new tiny homes, their rents will pay for ongoing expenses.
Benz said rent is likely to be $800 as a starting cost but will incentivize them to go to school and participate in different trainings by decreasing the rent depending on what residents do.
With stand-alone shipping container homes, people are often concerned about how hot they can become inside. To prevent overheating, Benz said he will have four and a half inches of Styrofoam placed on the outside of the container.
Once his project is completed, he hopes this type of tiny home community can be a model for other vulnerable populations who are impacted by housing insecurity, including veterans, the elderly, and people released from prison.
“We’ve got to get something started,” Benz said. “The need is there, but the need is huge.”