Grassroots organization close to building homeless village

Jan. 27—A grassroots organization expects to start construction on a project to build Joplin's first housing community for homeless and low-income disabled residents soon.

Organizers of a project called Vita Nova Village held a meeting with stakeholders, representatives of the city of Joplin, and some community members on Thursday night at the Joplin Public Library to provide information about the project. The group has been holding meetings for two years to work toward a project to address homelessness.

Representatives of the Vita Nova board on Thursday night said the organization has obtained a tract of land where they are planning to build 30 small houses and a community center for homeless residents to occupy. They also have a donor who is willing to help with some costs of the project.

Joplin resident Rhonda Thompson, founder and director of the Vita Nova group, said the village is intended to be a place where existing residents who are homeless could "obtain the skills, integrity, and community relationships to build a new healthy life and be a good neighbor and employee of our community."

Thompson told those at the meeting that the Vita Nova group's mission is to "provide homeless individuals with employment and targeted education for a path to housing stability and a productive and meaningful life."

Making plans

The group has been meeting for more than two years to explore the issues of homelessness and housing, and has provided information to the community about the effort at events such as Third Thursday. The group has held a number of fundraisers for the project. Thompson has spoken at Joplin City Council meetings about the project.

Troy Dunlap, a senior designer for Small Arrow Engineering, who is the board president of Vita Nova, showed a drawing of the village concept. The houses would be built around a central gathering area with a community center at one end. The village office and a laundry is to be located in the community center and possibly a small market area where some groceries could be purchased, Dunlap said. Planners also envision community vegetable and flower gardens edged by fruit trees on the property with participation of the residents in planting, maintenance and harvesting.

The Joplin project is to be modeled after three Eden Village communities that have been built in Springfield since 2016 with a similar purpose.

Donor assistance

A Lamar couple, Danny and Jewell Little, have donated to the Eden Village projects and they are willing to help the Joplin project as well.

"I became interested in the homeless situation in Joplin because we had been helping to support Soul's Harbor in Joplin, and my wife and I have become involved with the Area Agency on Aging down here trying to help to provide them with meat they can use in their Meals on Wheels program. and we kept hearing about Joplin's homeless situation," Little said.

The Littles have contributed a 3D printer to the Eden Village projects that will be used to build housing for the Joplin village. They also brought principals in the Eden Village projects to the Thursday night meeting to discuss how those housing projects are built and operated.

Two of the leaders of those projects, Nate Schlueter and Traci Sooter, spoke about the development of Eden Villages, the construction methods used and how the villages are operated.

Springfield projects

Sooter is a professor of architecture at Drury University and director of the university's Design-Build program who led students on the construction of Joplin tornado recovery projects, including a memorial for those who died in the tornado and a Butterfly Garden and Overlook at Cunningham Park.

Schlueter said the Springfield villages are built with donations from the community. Houses are about 400 square feet and are operated with few problems, he said.

Both Schlueter and Sooter said that many homeless people are in need of a secure place to sleep at night instead of sleeping in the outdoors or woods where they can fall victim to robberies, assaults and other dangers.

There have been few issues inside the villages because they are fenced to keep intruders out and the main entrance gate uses biometric (fingerprint) identification to enter. The grounds and the exterior perimeter of the villages are constantly monitored by security cameras.

Once the residents know they are secure and can sleep well at night, many go on to work jobs and become stable, productive citizens and good neighbors, though they live on incomes of about $600 to $1,000 a month, Schlueter said. The Eden Village method does not offer free rent because residents rebuild their dignity by paying their way, Schlueter said.

They pay $325 per month for rent and utilities in the Eden Village homes. Those offered housing must sign an agreement that they will not do drugs on the property or smoke inside the houses, although residents can smoke outside on their porches. Alcohol is not banned, though residents cannot go out into the public areas of the village in an intoxicated manner without facing consequences.

Asked by a Joplin resident if such a village would draw more homeless people to Joplin, something that has been said here because some homeless people say Joplin has many services for those in need, Schlueter said that hasn't happened at Springfield.

'Nothing to fear'

"We've got nothing to fear here," Schlueter said he told a Springfield official who had the same concern about Eden villages. "The cities that homeless people migrate to are where dreams come true," and where climate is favorable, including Nashville, Tennessee.; Austin, Texas; Hollywood, California; and Seattle, Washington.

"It's hot here in summer and cold in winter," Schlueter said. "It's not a hot music scene, and there are no movies being shot here."

Schlueter and Sooter turned to 3D printing because the cost of lumber shot up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sooter said that in addition to seeing a substantial reduction in building costs, the materials produced by the printers will require no maintenance work in the future.

Little said he is a proponent of the efficiencies produced by technologies such as 3D printing. The printer he and his wife donated to the housing projects can produce single houses or duplexes, Schlueter said.

Thompson said the land, a 5-acre site in the East Town neighborhood, could be ready for development and construction in as soon as two months.