For nearly 20 years, Carpenter’s Church has been a home for the homeless, but soon, some of those people will have a new place to call ‘home’. Right now, the finishing touches are being put on the brand new duplexes before the houses can officially be put to use.
“We’ll see probably about 10 to 12 people who are going to be able to put an end to chronic homelessness by moving into one of these homes,” says Jaime Wheeler, the Housing First Director for Carpenter’s Church.
Housing First is a form of permanent supportive housing.
“That means that while someone gets housing, they also get around-the-clock support for different needs in their lives,” Wheeler says.
“We want to see that these people can become healthy and responsible citizens. There’s a lot of amazing people on the street, but because of thee situations that they’re stuck in…not having that stability, it really limits where they’re able to go and what they’re able to do with their lives,” she adds. “If we give somebody a safe place to be that’s really their own, you are able to see people really get moving in their life…just having a little bit of that stability.”
Each one bedroom, one bath home is equipped with a full kitchen, storage space, and even washer and dryer.
“We really didn’t hold back on these homes. We wanted them to be just as good as any other duplex that we build in Lubbock,” says Jordan Wheatley, a custom home builder in charge of constructing these houses.
There’s also a process involved to pick those who will live in the units. It starts with an assessment that scores people to see how high their need is for housing. From there, the people at the top of the list must agree to three requirements.
“One of them is that 30% of their income goes to their rent, however much income that is. The second thing is that they would sign a basic lease just like any other renter. The third thing is that they would meet with a support person at least once a week,” Wheeler says.
The entire process has been years in the making, and most of the money that was used to build the houses came from a large grant.
“Every time people come to me wanting to build a house, they have wants. They want to build this or they want that certain amenity, but this is really the first time that I’ve got to experience someone that needs a home. It’s just a great deal to know that I’m fulfilling a need rather than a want,” Wheatley says. “Some of the comments that I got were, ‘wow…an oven’ and ‘wow a refrigerator’. Those are things that my other clients and customers never say anything about. I mean those are just things that a lot of people take for granted that these folks are getting for the first time.”
Wheeler is already looking at ways that they can partner with apartments or work with different grants to offer housing to more people.
“While this is a really big undertaking for us, this is just the beginning. We want to be able to provide this opportunity to as many people as we can in the future,” she says.
The grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on Thursday morning at 11 am. There will also be an open house to view the homes. The houses are located right across the street from Carpenter’s Church at 1903 13th Street.