Anchorage church plans to welcome homeless seniors to tiny houses

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - People who attend Central Lutheran Church at West 15th Avenue and Cordova Street are used to having homeless campers as their neighbors.

Church Vicar Zach Manzella said while they’ve occasionally seen troubling behavior, the people themselves have always been welcome.

Now the church wants to extend that welcome even further. It’s started a nonprofit called “In Our Backyard” with plans to put five tiny homes on the church property, specifically for seniors age 50 and over, who are experiencing homelessness and who are waiting for permanent housing.

“It’s a way to use the resources we have here to better someone else’s life,” Manzella said.

In early May, the Anchorage Assembly approved an ordinance that allows for pallet shelters or tiny homes to be used as temporary shelters to house homeless people. The ordinance also exempted shelters from the city’s building permit and certificate of occupancy requirements.

Julie Greene-Graham, who chairs the nonprofit, said it was the green light they needed to move forward with their project.

Greene-Graham said the custom tiny homes they plan to purchase are small, about 64 square feet in area, and would arrive as insulated panels that will need to be assembled.

The cost is about $8,000 each, but that’s before they are wired for electricity. The homes would not have plumbing, but residents would share a shower trailer that includes two restrooms with showers.

Greene-Graham said the group has raised about $30,000 towards the project that will likely cost close to $400,000 in total. She said they are actively fundraising and applying for grants and hope to have the tiny homes in place in October.

As to who will live there, the criteria include people who are at least 50 years of age and are able to live independently. No marijuana or alcohol use will be permitted on site and people can not be on the sex offender registry.

Greene-Graham said the area where the homes will be located, on the edge of the church parking lot, will be fenced for both privacy and protection, and people will be expected to keep it neat.

“We really want this to be a community where people who are staying here have responsibilities to keep it clean, help with cleaning the shower trailer area. So yes, there is going to be occupancy agreements,” Greene-Graham said.

She said people will likely stay between six and nine months until they find permanent housing and the project will include case workers who will assist them.

Greene-Graham said there are many churches and organizations that are working in collaboration with them, as well as the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, which will screen potential residents. She said the hope is that the site may eventually become a model that other churches who wish to put up temporary shelters can use.

Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.