Metro Phoenix city looks to tiny homes to keep veterans off the street. Here's how

Homelessness among the nation’s veterans continues to pose a challenge for municipalities and nonprofits working to provide them with transitional housing.

“Veteran homelessness is widespread and impacting our entire country,” said Michelle Jameson, executive director of U.S. Vets Phoenix.

Between 2022 and 2023, the United States saw a 7% increase in the number of veterans experiencing homelessness, according to the Housing and Urban Development’s Point in Time Count last year. In Maricopa County, the number of homeless veterans tallied rose from 420 to 505 in the same period — a roughly 20% jump.

“This increase is concerning,” Jameson said. “Even with all of the resources offered by both our organization and the community, veterans are still faced with significant barriers to lasting permanent housing.”

The Phoenix arm of U.S. Vets, which has locations in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Texas and Washington, D.C., provides services for mental health and wellness, workforce development and transitional housing.

In Glendale, the city officials are looking to increase those same services for the area’s homeless servicemembers by launching a project that will create a transitional housing community.

Though there are numerous services offered to veterans, they are still contending with increases in rental prices and the cost of living in the Valley, Jameson said.

Selene Becerra Romero supervises the case management program for Catholic Charities MANA House in Phoenix, which offers 76 transitional housing beds to veterans and round-the-clock onsite services. She echoed Jameson’s comments, noting that the high cost of living is a critical factor in the homelessness issue.

“The rent price is outrageous,” Romero said. “We have people who are on a fixed income that cannot even qualify to get into an apartment … And even veterans working full time with minimum pay cannot afford renting an apartment.”

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Since 2010, the availability of apartments renting for less than $1,000 a month in the Phoenix metro area has decreased by more than 86%, the Maricopa Association of Governments found in its housing trends report for December 2023.

The reason why veterans end up on the street oftentimes goes beyond the availability of affordable rental units, Romero said, noting that caseworkers hear stories of veterans losing their job or having a medical procedure that kept them in the hospital for a while.

Other times, Romero continued, an individual gets fed up with their landlord for failing to fix problems in their unit.

“A lot of the times, the landlord just wants to get rid of the tenant, and if the tenant doesn’t know their rights, that’s when a lot of them lose their apartment,” she said. “And I’ve heard some of those stories with our clients … they’re tired of paying rent when the issue isn’t getting fixed.”

To empower clients, MANA House case managers provide tenant-rights information whenever they’re moving into an apartment, Romero said.

As local charities like U.S. Vets Phoenix and MANA House continue to help struggling servicemembers get back on their feet with transitional housing services, a Missouri-based nonprofit is looking to join the local effort.

Veterans Community Project is expanding its footprint, partnering with the city of Glendale to develop more transitional housing units for veterans living on the street or at risk of losing their homes.

Fully investing in veterans

Glendale leaders inked an agreement with the county last month that will invest $3 million in COVID-19 relief funds toward the roughly $14.2 million transitional housing project. To bring that development to fruition, the city has been working with Veterans Community Project over the past year.

First launching in Kansas City, the organization develops communities, or villages, of tiny homes and offers on-site supportive services. So far, the group has established or is in the process of constructing villages in five other U.S. cities, including St. Louis, Missouri; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“People come to us in a variety of ways, but I think one of the important things to know is that what we do, we house people who are experiencing homelessness or are housing-unstable, and we transition them into permanent housing situations where they’re fully contributing members to society again,” said Jason Kander, president of national expansion for the nonprofit.

Veterans Community Project sees veterans finding their way to the nonprofit in a variety of ways, Kander explained. Sometimes it’s through outreach services, while other times Veterans Affairs will refer them, he said.

The average stay of an individual going through the transitional housing program is about 10 months to a year, Kander said.

“One of the things that’s unique is we don’t put a cap on how long someone can be with us, which I think really helps the veterans we work with fully invest … as long as we’re working, they’re going to keep working.”

In 2021, the nonprofit saw 85% of its clients transition from homelessness to sustainable housing, according to the group.

The Glendale VCP Village will be located on city-owned property near 63rd and Grand avenues and comprise 50 tiny homes, each about 240 square feet, or 340 square feet for family units. It will also include offices for the nonprofit’s personnel, as well as case management services.

It’s an exciting project for the city and Veterans Community Project, as it will allow veterans to focus on getting their lives back together, said Glendale Community Services Director Jean Moreno.

“If you can provide them with a safe, comfortable place to live, and so that they can then focus on the other ancillary causes of their homelessness and solving those problems, it takes a lot of stress off of that individual,” Moreno said.

Coupled with a $3.21 million investment from the state, the county’s $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds means the nonprofit is in a better position when it launches its campaign to raise the remaining $8 million needed, said Moreno.

“In all of the other communities that they have gone into, they have been responsible for fundraising the entire cost for capital and the operating startup,” she said. “In our scenario, because the city has been able to bring resources to the table to address those capital needs, it means that we'll be able to expedite the development of the Glendale project.”

Creating a regional asset

The city’s contribution to the project is the land itself, valued at about $3.84 million. The transportation department had purchased the site for Grand Avenue improvements, but it only needed to acquire the driveways, city officials previously stated.

Near the available site are transportation services, as well as a local dog park, which Moreno called a critical asset as it accommodates homeless individuals who have pets. It’s also near a Central Arizona Shelter Services location, where the region’s homeless can receive case management and employment support.

“That particular location is well situated in the west Valley … so that it could be used as a regional asset,” Moreno said.

Another nearby resource for veterans is the Sandy Coor Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1433 office off 63rd Avenue. Having the VFW nearby means services are easily accessible for veterans, Mayor Jerry Weiers has said.

The city is looking to complete the project by July 2026. Next, the nonprofit will apply for a rezoning request, fundraise and then submit designs for the site, according to Moreno. On the city’s end, it must negotiate a final development agreement with the charity.

Benefits of community partnerships

While that project moves forward, veterans have access to services through U.S. Vets Phoenix and MANA House.

U.S. Vets Phoenix has 172 transitional beds, and houses, on average, about 168 veterans in community apartments, according to Jameson. Across all the nonprofit’s programs, she added, it serves about 1,600 veterans annually, and housed 506 in permanent housing last year.

“So, any given day we house about 300 people experiencing homelessness,” Jameson said.

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On average, it takes an individual about four months to find stable housing with the help of the local nonprofit, Jameson said.

“It depends on the needs of the veterans, some will take longer, it could be shorter,” she said. “It just depends on their needs.”

U.S. Vets’ outreach team in Phoenix engages about 400 veterans each year, according to Jameson. Last year, it placed 290 veterans into employment.

When asked about Glendale’s planned development with Veterans Community Project, Jameson said U.S. Vets looks forward to any partnership with the shared goal of ending veteran homelessness.

“It means,” she said, “less veterans calling the streets their home.”

Shawn Raymundo covers the West Valley cities of Glendale, Peoria and Surprise. Reach him at sraymundo@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tiny homes an answer to homeless vet housing crisis? This metro Phoenix city thinks so