In February 2025, the House of Hope opened the doors of ECHO Village, the first pallet shelter pilot community in Rhode Island. House of Hope is a non-profit corporation that originated in Rhode Island in 1989. They began in Warwick, with founders who developed services for unhoused people as the demand grew The grassroots movement that was once running out of local faith-based organizations now offers shelters, a street outreach program, and a mobile shower and haircut service called “Shower to Empower.” They house over 250 people per year in housing throughout Rhode Island. Their newest project is the ECHO Village pallet shelter, which provides 40 tiny homes to serve the growing unhoused population of Rhode Island. In this interview, Laura Jaworksi, executive director of House of Hope, talks about what led to the demand for such housing, the process and challenges of building up a village of this size , and how community members have reacted to this change.
Eiffel Sunga: It seems like House of Hope has just been growing since the 80s. Do you think that the growth of the organization came with an increase in demand for the services? From what I’ve read, it seems like the housing crisis has expanded, or it’s just become more difficult for many people.
Laura Jaworski: Yes. I think the growth that House of Hope has experienced is in direct correlation to either policies that have been created and opportunities that are responding to that, we’re trying to address problems that are being faced. It’s the way that policy and practice really intersect: in the 90s and early 2000s is where you began to see our housing development work. I don’t think we were ever founded with the intention that we would eventually be buying up properties and renting and owning them. But as we became more established and started to understand the problem a little bit more, we saw opportunities where we can actually take our mission further. Instead of just keeping someone safer tonight, what would it look like if we make a longer lasting transformation by taking a blighted property and renovating it to make it available at an affordable rate? So certainly there’s growth moments in organizations that are reacting and responding to funding opportunities.
But as I’ve bore witness to our story in the last ten years, what’s happened for us is that the opportunities to purchase properties in Warwick have become more and more limited. We were able to capitalize on a moment in time when, leading up to or during even the recession, properties were affordable and we could get them at a reasonably inexpensive cost. It was certainly the opposite of what we’re seeing today. Those opportunities have now dried up. It’s becoming more difficult for non-profits who aren’t as nimble as a private developer to come into those few properties that are left, buy with cash, turn them around, and make them available. So we’re kind of competing with that market where we’re located here. At the same time, we saw the demand for services just explode, the folks that were in our housing started to have increasing levels of need. We needed to make sure that we were providing a high level of supportive services and an intensive level of services to meet the acuity needs of people staying in those units.
Alongside that is the unsheltered crisis growing here in Rhode Island. Pre-pandemic, there were under 100 folks unsheltered here in our state; our outreach team knew all those folks and we still know most of the folks that are on the streets. Now we have over 600 people. We’ve seen unsheltered homelessness and chronic homelessness in our state explode so much that we’ve got one of the fastest rates of growth for people experiencing chronic homelessness—in part because there’s nowhere for people to go.
Our system is so bogged down. We have a thousand people that are competing for an average of seven bed openings a day. Now, if someone is languishing, people can’t transition from something that should be rare, brief, and non-recurring, where we offer resources and you can move on.
ES: I want to talk about ECHO Village.
LJ: ECHO is actually an acronym that stands for Emergency Covid Housing Opportunities. It was a program model that was created in direct response to the already increasing demand for emergency shelter that our street-based team was seeing and hearing. We knew that people were struggling to access shelter for a whole number of reasons. That system was saying to people, “No, we cannot accommodate you.” As those first few months of the pandemic started to roll out, we saw additional barriers that people were facing. Beds were literally being removed from homeless shelters, or turned over and spread out. Massive wedding type tents were set up in the parking lots of organizations, and people were being put into bunks under that. So we saw all of that, and then on top of it heard people saying, “I’m probably going to die if I go into a shelter because I have a significant medical condition. If I contract that virus, it will be fatal to me.”
So we were like, “What does this moment create for us?” We had been exploring the use of tiny houses as a housing intervention to create permanent housing for people with plumbing and a kitchen and all of that. When the pandemic hit, we had to shift into crisis mode. We put that project on the side, but it had already sparked some ideas in our head about how we might be able to serve folks differently. Right now, emergency shelter in Rhode Island had been one big room, a big crowded area—it’s not restful. And it’s not really dignified. And that’s not a ding against people that are providing the service—It’s the reality of what options are available.
ES: Could you explain what’s included in each tiny home and why the organization has chosen to include those specific things when someone is living in the village?
LJ: When we became familiar with the company whose name is Pallet, we knew we were not going to create a permanent solution for somebody, but we sure as hell had an opportunity to provide somebody with a more dignified option. That’s what the structure does. Those units are designed to protect someone from the extreme elements—maybe from other humans too, because violence and assault are common—provide move-on strategies from law enforcement and municipalities, and have a door that locks so someone can have their own agency and actually get some rest. It started checking off barriers for folks that were unable to enter into the system—not because they wanted to stay homeless, not because this was a lifestyle choice that they had, but because the system of care is not responsive to the people who are accessing it.
Pallet was an opportunity to say, “This is what we’ve been doing, it isn’t working. Can we introduce a new concept where we can reach those people who have been on the streets the longest?”
They have a unit of their own that is 70 square feet. It has a heater, it’s cooled, and it has electricity, so it has lights and people can plug in a device like a phone to charge. We also saw a lot of people who have medical devices and they’re not able to plug those in in a shelter. So being able to do that is huge. In the unit itself, there’s a bed, a chair, a nightstand, some shelves to hang items or to place personal effects, and then two windows for air and sunlight. Then, the most important part, a door that locks. So somebody knows when they lock that door, they’re safe.
The village itself has bathrooms, we have showers, and we will have laundry. We also have case management staff and other shelter staff supporting those 45 folks that are there, so someone is always on site and available to provide support to meet their needs.
ES: So you said this idea came out of Covid-19 when everyone was in crisis mode. But obviously 40 pallet shelters can’t be built overnight. It took some time between now and when the idea was formed, but I read that it was supposed to open last spring. Could you talk about why there were delays in the establishment of the shelter and perhaps the biggest challenges that came with tackling a project of this size?
LJ: Communities can and have constructed these villages in 100 days or less, assuming everyone is all in and on the same page. One unit can be assembled in an hour or so with minimal tools. It’s the infrastructure that needs to be put into place; making sure that the site has access to water and electricity. You often will see these villages constructed on a parking lot near a building because they can tap into the sources there. In our case, it’s a parcel of land that is in the middle of an on-ramp for a highway. When we first saw that site, it was a grassy area, but decades ago, it was a neighborhood before they put the highway in. So there was still infrastructure there underground
What happened for our story here was the pallet units were all assembled the last week of January, first week of February 2024—one year ago. We were slated to get open. What we didn’t anticipate as fully was a challenge of how can we meet our code requirements. How can we be creative and get to the goal that we’re trying to get to without also being heavy handed with our bureaucracy? And that was to determine it to be a hotel or a dorm. This is clearly not a hotel or a dorm, but what they were trying to set out to do was identify something in the code to be similar, because this was a large group of people for whom this was not their primary residence. They felt that the best application, in terms of life safety, was a dorm.
That then led us down a path of figuring out what needs to happen. There, you saw application of fire retardant paint on both the inside and the outsides of the sleeping units and most of the other structures. We needed to install fire suppression systems, at least one in every single sleeping unit. We needed a painting company that was qualified to administer the product. We had to have someone come out and test it. We had to order the fire suppression units and all of the additional components, and then install and put all those things into place, while at the same time finishing up the rest of the construction project. Because those aren’t the only two things that we were doing. We were creating a city, basically.
ES: How have you seen the community react to these shelters? That would include the people who are now getting to live in them and the neighbors of the village itself.
LJ: We’ve been focused, this past month, on getting folks in and supported. I spent a lot of time leading up to the opening engaging and talking with the community around where ECHO is located, with the council people, various other elected officials, and community residents. And people are skeptical, unsure, and afraid. It’s something new and different, and I don’t fault anybody for that. I’ve had a lot of really great conversations, and I’m grateful because those communities took time and heard and listened.
For the leadership, the city council, people in those areas also understood the demands and the needs. They were seeing encampments in their neighborhoods. And it was not so much that people were saying, “We don’t want you here.” People were concerned and worried, like, “Are they safe?” Yes, there were people that were not so gracious. However, by and large, most people in the immediate community were very welcoming and asked a lot of great questions. They started to understand and learn more, they were like, “Oh, I get it. I understand it now.”
For the folks that were moving in, it’s been beautiful. People are just overwhelmed. People are immensely appreciative. We don’t do it for that, but they’re so glad they don’t have to worry about how they’re going to survive. We’ve prioritized folks who’ve been outside the longest and in their vehicles, so there’s a lot of emotion that has come with it. People are already being able to reconnect with their family. We’ve already had an individual move on into housing, which is really exciting.
ES: Wrapping up the interview, I had one more big question. As a college student—and given how many colleges and universities there are in Rhode Island—I think a lot about our relationship with the city. Do you have any insight on how having such a substantial college population in Providence affects the housing situation here? Because most of the students aren’t permanent residents of Rhode Island—they’re here for four years and then they move to another city. How does that affect the greater housing situation in the state?
LJ: Those students are in large part living on those campuses. Not all, but some. And then if they are off-campus, they’re maybe eating up the local rental market, and it makes a challenge for the rest of the rental market. That’s its own universe of difficulties. I think that there is a large obligation that we all have to make sure that there’s space for everybody.
The piece I would want to offer to students—especially those that might like to leave Rhode Island after graduating—is first of all, try to stay in Rhode Island. This is a wonderful state. It’s a great place to start your career. But what I hope people have is an eye-opening experience, that they take some time to understand what’s happening in that city in our state. While they are temporarily here, get out from campus and understand the local issues and try to get involved. There’s a great group at Brown, the Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE) students getting involved with the Swearer Center and being a part of this community while they’re here. There’s lots of ways to do that, and there’s lots of needs to be met.
On top of that, my hope is that there’s also an opportunity for young people to take what they’re seeing and to advocate and to vote and to talk to those elected officials and say, “Can we make opportunities for everyone here? I’m concerned about this.” We need people to be engaged. And if they’re doing it here, that’s great. Or when they go back, that’s great too. I think history has shown us that we need young people. A lot of times what’s happening on college campuses is speaking up and speaking out.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.