Seniors are one of the fastest growing populations experiencing homelessness — and shelters, specifically for older adults, are few and far between — but that’s slowly changing with senior-specific shelters like the Haven near Interstate 17.
A brand new, sustainable development for those 55 and older called Senior Bridge has opened its doors in Phoenix. It has 40 independent studio units — each with a twin bed, bathroom, a mini-fridge, microwave and lots of natural light.
The buildings, which sit near Van Buren just east of the I-10, are made of shipping containers. They’re also energy independent — powered by solar during the day and lithium batteries at night.
“So by doing this completely energy independent it reduces one of the largest costs for an operator and then for the permanent housing it reduces the cost of your air conditioning bill,” says Brian Stark, co-founder of Senior Bridge and CEO of Steel and Spark, which manufactured these repurposed containers
That permanent housing he talked about is part of Phase 2 and will add 54 permanent supportive apartments on the same campus, which is important, Stark said.
“A lot of times you hear stories of people who are placed in permanent housing in the Valley, out in different places and then they lose support services," he said.
They may also lose whatever community they may have created.
Larry Haynes is the CEO of Mercy House, which provides social services, like housing and medical support.
“We have this mistaken idea that shelters exist in isolation,” he says. “You know, the effectiveness of a shelter depends upon the outreach teams that bring books to us and the amount of permanent housing stock to which we can then connect people to.”
So the plan here has always been to have transitional and permanent housing on the same campus.
There's another piece to solving the problem of homelessness. He says housing projects like this one hinges on community cooperation.
“We will not solve homelessness if we're working against each other," Haynes said. "We will only solve homelessness if we're all working together. Because the things that our local businesses want to turn a modest profit, the things that our neighborhoods want to have a decent place to live, are virtuous, are reasonable.”
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