The tiny homes shelter project in Ontario. (The Enterprise/Liliana Frankel)
ONTARIO – The tiny homes shelter in a lot next to Origins Faith Community Church at 312 N.W. 2nd Street and sponsored by Community in Action, Origins Faith Community and the city of Ontario is closing for the season on June 30.
Organizers said that all 37 shelter residents were actively engaged with program staff in plans to find “step-up” housing so that they would have the shelter they sought come July.
“Our thought is that we’re going to continue to run it as a winter shelter October through June,” said Barb Higinbotham, executive director of Community in Action. “I think it’s going to work really well.”
Higinbotham said that despite neighbor complaints at the beginning and middle of the shelter’s six month run, operations have gone well overall, including community relations, which she described as significantly improved.
“We really worked diligently to get that community to start functioning as a community and not them versus us,” she said. “Of course you’re going to run into hiccups, but I think the project has been very successful. We have housed (14) people in step-up housing in a really tight market where there’s not a lot of housing available. We’ve helped people connect with resources that they needed.”
News tip? Contact reporter Liliana Frankel at [email protected] or 267-981-5577.
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