Tom Graber, Faith Mission of Michiana chairman, speaks Thursday during the groundbreaking ceremony for Faith Mission of Michiana tiny shelters at 801 Benham Ave. in Elkhart. Joseph Weiser | The Goshen News
A drawing of the layout of a Faith Mission tiny shelter is shown. Photo contributed
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GOSHEN — Sometimes it’s the smallest projects that make the biggest impact.
That’s the idea behind the new Tiny Shelters program at Elkhart’s Faith Mission, the only emergency homeless facility in Elkhart County where shelter, meals, clothing and long-term recovery programs are provided all in one place.
To help kick off the new program, members of the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce joined with Faith Mission leaders at their Elkhart facility Thursday afternoon for a special, socially-distanced groundbreaking ceremony for the new tiny shelters.
“Actually, we’re a little farther along than just the groundbreaking, but this is all part of our emergency shelter low barrier program,” said Mike Perez, resource and development director for Faith Mission. “These shelters are specifically for those that are going to stay in our low barrier program, which is our overnight shelter. We have a lot of homeless individuals that have serious mental health issues, we have vets that may have PTSD, and those that just can’t function in a group setting.
“So, these will be options for us to be able to serve those individuals, because some of the folks that live under bridges, in tent cities, etc., that’s part of the problem. They just don’t do well in those traditional group settings,” Perez added. “So, this is an alternative to that situation.”
THE COVID DELAY
According to Perez, the mission’s Tiny Shelters program has actually been in the works since late 2019, though the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to the program’s progress in early 2020.
“When COVID happened, that really put us back. So, right now we’re in a $300,000 capital campaign, and we’ve raised about $140,000 of it at this point,” Perez said of the project. “That money is what has enabled us to get started. So, we actually have six units already being done, with the foundations laid, etc., and our overall goal is to have 12 units total, plus a shower/laundry building. And right now the plan is to have them all up and somebody living in them by August.”
Perez said the new tiny shelters will be 12-by-16-feet in size and suitable for one person, providing short-term respite from homelessness and an entry to Faith Mission’s support programs.
Built in partnership with The Crossing School, each structure will contain a toilet, a sink, a bed, a chair and a small amount of storage space, he explained.
“And these are designed specifically for emergency use, so in terms of time, they could stay for as little as one day to as many as a couple weeks. It’s just going to be determined on a case-by-case basis,” Perez added. “And we’ve designed them to be available all year long. They’ll have both heat and cooling in them, for example. So, this will be something all year long we’ll have available for people.”
JUST A START
And according to Ross Swihart, executive director of Faith Mission, the tiny shelters are just the first step in the mission’s overall goal of getting people off the streets and back on their feet.
“This is just a starting point. This is for a person to get started,” Swihart said of the Tiny Shelters program. “Our goal is to get people out of their cars, out of the woods, off the street, and get them into shelter, first, so that we can then get them access to services so that we can address the issues that are causing them to be homeless.”
Along those lines, Swihart noted that once the Tiny Shelters program is completed, the mission’s next phase will be to actually construct several tiny houses next to the tiny shelters site, which will allow the shelters’ users to transition to more permanent housing as they work to get back on their feet.
“Our end-goal for everyone that comes through the doors here at Faith Mission is permanent housing once they leave here. And so, if they can’t get that, then that’s what those tiny homes are going to be for,” Swihart said. “So, we’re excited. It gives us another tool, and another option to be able to serve the homeless here in our community.”
Mindy Morehead is executive director of the Goshen Interfaith Hospitality Network, a Goshen-based nonprofit which for the past 25 years has been working to provide emergency shelter to the city’s homeless.
HOW ABOUT GOSHEN?
“It’s extremely exciting. It’s needed,” Morehead said of the Tiny Shelters program in Elkhart. “We have people who won’t go to shelters for multiple reasons. In fact, I actually just met with a guy today here in Goshen who has anxiety issues being around lots of people. So, he’s like, ‘I can’t do a shelter, and I’m trying to figure out other options.’ So, for that to be an option is going to be huge for the community.”
Ed Swartley, executive director of The Window, a Goshen-based nonprofit, which provides services to meet the essential needs of anyone with limited income, agreed.
“I think they’re awesome, and I would love to see them in Goshen sometime,” Swartley said of the tiny shelters. “I know Ross Swihart real well. He’s a good friend of mine. So, yeah, I think it’s awesome. I know he’s been talking about this for quite a while, and I’m excited to see how it goes.
“People who are homeless really want to be independent, and this is a way to be independent,” Swartley added of the shelters. “Sure, you’re going to have your bumps, and who knows what those will be. But it’s a place they will be able to call home; a place just for them. They’re not sleeping in bunks inside a communal space, etc. It’s going to be their own, which I think is awesome. Because in talking with some of the homeless, they say, ‘We just want to be on our own.’ So, I think this is a way to help with that.”
Should things go well with Faith Mission’s program, Swartley said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Goshen adopt such a program somewhere down the line.
“He’s going to get all the kinks and everything out, and I think Goshen will eventually copy what they’re doing,” Swartley said of Swihart’s efforts. “And I would imagine that he’ll probably be involved with something like that in Goshen, too, to help out. That’s just who Ross is. Faith Mission has helped out many agencies here in Goshen, and that includes The Window. So, we collaborate quite a bit with them.”
Morehead, too, said she thinks a tiny shelters program would be a perfect fit for the city.
“I would love to see something like this in Goshen down the line. It’s got its advantages, for sure,” Morehead said. “I mean, it’s a next step. It gives them a place to manage so that they can go into housing, and maintain it, and have that stability. And a lot of times, that’s what’s really need. So, that especially is something I’d really love to see in the area.”
For her part, Goshen City Council member Julia King said she’s always open to exploring new ideas for how best to serve the city’s homeless population.
“There are a lot of different reasons why people find themselves unsheltered. Having a range of living options in a community can only be a good thing,” King said of Faith Mission’s new program. “I applaud the effort and will be eager to see how things unfold. Every new endeavor like this provides an opportunity to learn.”
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