photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The gated entry to The Village, 256 N. Michigan St., is pictured on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. The site is home to 50 Pallet cabins for people experiencing homelessness.

It’s still an open question when exactly Lawrence’s village of 64-square-foot Pallet cabins will be ready to start accepting residents, but the pieces are mostly in place to make it happen.

That was the state of “The Village,” 256 N. Michigan St., as of Friday, when City of Lawrence staff invited the media to tour the community. Construction there wrapped up at the beginning of December, including 50 Pallet cabins, a community building and more. As the Journal-World has reported, the Lawrence Community Shelter will ultimately be responsible for operating The Village as part of its funding agreement with the city.

City staff including Homeless Programs Coordinator Misty Bosch-Hastings and Homeless Programs Project Specialist Cicely Thornton led the tour and answered questions about how The Village will work and what comes next.

What’s in The Village?

The Village is mostly composed of the 64-square-foot cabins that residents will be living in. Thornton said each of them comes equipped with its own wall-mounted heating and air conditioning unit, carbon monoxide and fire detectors, a fire extinguisher and an emergency exit on the back side of the cabin. They’re also fitted with a bed and wall-mounted storage shelving, and residents will be provided with items like bedding when moving in. Thornton said the expectation is that each cabin will house a single occupant.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The interior of one of the 64-square-foot Pallet cabins at The Village, 256 N. Michigan St., is pictured. The unit was staged as part of a tour for media on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024.

Four of the cabins are ADA-accessible, Thornton said. Essentially, that means they are the only units on site that currently have a paved concrete path running up to their doors. Bosch-Hastings later said that number of units should be enough to start, and implied that more could be converted in the future if necessary.

“I don’t know of four sheltered or unsheltered homeless individuals we can put in the ADA units right this minute,” Bosch-Hastings said. “But things change.”

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

This row of four Pallet cabins are currently the only ADA-accessible units on site. The other 46 cabins all do not have a concrete path or sidewalk running up to their front doors.

Thornton said the site will support some additional storage space for residents — likely a storage box limited at two totes per person.

Pallet cabins aren’t equipped with plumbing, however, which is why The Village also makes use of the city’s hygiene trailers, which previously have been used at city-sanctioned homeless camps. The two trailers include showers and restrooms. A third trailer is home to six sets of washers and dryers.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Two bathroom and shower trailers are stationed at The Village.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

A laundry trailer with six washers and dryers is stationed at The Village.

The Village also includes a few other structures, including two larger versions of the Pallet cabins intended to serve as office space for visiting service providers and case managers. The largest single structure on site is the community building, which is heated and houses three picnic tables and, eventually, will have a water fountain for community use. LCS will prepare three meals per day from the shelter building at 3655 E. 25th St. and serve them out of this space, Thornton said.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The interior of the community building where meals will be served each day includes three picnic tables and will eventually, at right in this photo, include a water fountain for residents.

Finally, The Village also includes an office building, where site monitors and security will be stationed 24 hours a day. And, while it hasn’t happened yet, Thornton said 18 cameras will be installed throughout the site atop light poles and will cover the vast majority of the area inside and directly outside the fence. The monitors showing the video feeds will be housed inside the office building.

In terms of other miscellaneous features, The Village also includes a set of bike racks for residents and will support wireless internet across the site. Residents will also be able to get their mail on site. The Village is also located directly across the street from a bus stop, which will be one of the ways residents will be expected to get around.

How will it work?

The city and LCS are approaching The Village as a high-barrier sheltering option, Bosch-Hastings said, which means living there comes with some requirements. As the Journal-World has reported, The Village will prioritize vulnerable groups including veterans, the elderly, women without children emerging from domestic violence situations and individuals with disabilities who require specialized support and care.

“I think that a lot (of people) are going to compare this to Camp New Beginnings (the city-supported homeless camp in North Lawrence), and I want them to know that this is a very well-thought-out plan,” Bosch-Hastings said. “The operational plans are to help individuals end their homelessness; it’s not just a place to sleep and party, it’s actual working toward ending homelessness, with any support that they need to do so.”

The residents will be subject to a curfew, barring circumstances like work schedules, and will only be able to enter and exit The Village through a gate that requires a key card. Thornton said before residents can leave the site, they’ll be required to check in at the office and leave the key to their cabin there in exchange for a key card. Upon returning, they’ll exchange the key card back for their cabin key. The gate is also equipped with an intercom system.

Thornton said that both Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical and the Lawrence Police Department have access to the site in case of emergencies. The Pallet cabins were constructed 10 feet apart in order to prevent the spread of fires, Thornton added.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The interior of each Pallet cabin includes built-in shelving, a wall-mounted heating and air conditioning unit and a fire extinguisher.

In terms of items that won’t be allowed at The Village, Thornton said that includes anything that could “hurt you or anyone else” — weapons, illegal drugs and alcohol, for example. Residents also won’t be allowed to keep pets or have visitors. Smoking won’t be allowed in the individual Pallet cabins, but Thornton said there will be a designated outdoor smoking area located somewhere on site.

In terms of scenarios in which residents might be asked to leave The Village permanently, Bosch-Hastings said things like violent actions or possession of those banned items will likely be “non-negotiables.” But less severe infractions won’t be immediate deal-breakers.

“Curfews, things like that, I imagine that there’ll be a system of corrective action and not just ‘You’re done,'” Bosch-Hastings said. “But then I think the next step down from this is going to be the shelter, so that would be your next option.”

Bosch-Hastings added that the city would really like to see the other set of 45 Pallet cabins at its disposal installed next to LCS, an idea that’s been floated over the past several months as an option for low-barrier emergency sheltering for people who don’t meet the eligibility requirements for The Village.

Bosch-Hastings said ultimately, where individuals end up will be about what they want, but the intent will be to avoid perpetuating a cycle where they end up living outdoors again. Case managers will help with that, she said, as will other transitional supports.

“That’s why there’s going to be case management on site for that — the transition from being in a camp where you have no supports to this is probably going to be difficult,” Bosch-Hastings said. “… And then there’s individuals who are currently homeless that really just need a higher level of care than an emergency shelter can provide, and that will be easier to get them connected here to those levels of care when they have constant support around them and people that can identify their needs and move them through the system.”

Thornton said the hope is that an average stay for a resident at The Village is anywhere from three to six months long, after which new residents could be brought in based on referrals from local agencies, along with an individual’s inclusion on the local Coordinated Entry System list and their active engagement in supportive services.

Thornton said several individuals currently staying at Camp New Beginnings fit the criteria for staying at The Village, but work is still underway to find residents for all 50 Pallet cabins. Once The Village begins operating, however, both Thornton and Bosch-Hastings said the city plans to stop supporting the North Lawrence support site.

What comes next?

Bosch-Hastings said LCS has already finished and approved an operations plan for The Village, though it has yet to be shared publicly. The next step toward setting an opening date, she said, will come down to staffing. That’s a work in progress because the shelter’s new executive director, James Chiselom, started in the role on Friday.

But despite the uncertain timeline for the immediate future, the city does have an idea of how long The Village might be here to stay. Thornton said it’ll likely be operational for three to five years, in line with previous projections. And all along the way, the city plans to assist LCS by serving as a liaison.

“We’ve agreed to be a liaison forever — or as long as it’s here,” Bosch-Hastings said. “So either Cicely or I, one of us, just being available. I think in the beginning you’ll probably see us here a lot as we try to help them, because we did a lot of the agreements with the neighborhood so we want to make sure that we’re keeping our word and being good neighbors and just helping support the success of this. We won’t be managing, but we’ll be here for support.”

And once residents do move in, city staff is hopeful that they’ll feel empowered to be a true community. Bosch-Hastings said there’s some language in the operations plan to that end, encouraging residents to have “a say so” in what’s going on at The Village, which the city plans to help support.

“Building community is huge,” Thornton added.

Editor’s note: This story has been revised to accurately reflect which vulnerable populations will be prioritized as residents of The Village. One of those groups is women without children emerging from domestic violence situations.