For every day without a secure home, a person experiences trauma. Not only shelter, but hygiene, food, keeping track of belongings, medical care are all so much harder for the homeless, not to mention how one is treated. It’s increasingly clear that not all people experiencing homelessness are unemployed. Many individuals in the workforce, especially in the service industry, can’t afford rents here. Many struggle daily with housing insecurity, which includes being behind on rent or having difficulty paying it, frequently moving, living in crowded or unsafe conditions, or sharing a home with multiple families to reduce costs.
The average renter wage in Yavapai County is $1,347 per month, making it barely affordable to rent even a studio apartment at fair market value, which the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines as 40% of a given area’s gross rent for a standard-quality unit. Other issues making housing unaffordable for many in our area are short-term and vacation rentals, rising home prices, housing-stock shortages, and the limitations of having to survive on unemployment, disability or Social Security benefits. Many are just one mishap away from losing their housing.
The Coalition for Compassion and Justice (CCJ) is a local nonprofit committed to helping those experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity to have secure homes and enable them to no longer need housing assistance. Allison Lenocker, CCJ’s director since 2019, speaks with passion and enthusiasm about the organization’s work: “We want to empower people by saying, ‘Listen, whatever situation caused you to fall into homelessness, let’s work on those things. Then you get to the point where maybe you get a promotion and you’re making more money, or you get more hours at work, and what does that look like? Is it home-buying?’ Our goal is really to have folks use this as a stepping stone, though it’s sometimes also to provide a forever home. There aren’t many nonprofits in the area that are doing this work.”
There are many great success stories of those who got a leg up from CCJ and were able to move out of assisted housing, sometimes buying their own homes. The CCJ staff consists of a small, very close-knit team. This allows them organizational flexibility in how they can provide help. “We see a need, we address the need, and we just figure it out,” says Allison.
Carol Russell is a painter and member of the Art Hive. She began her creative life as an architect, and so carries an awareness of the importance of having a home: “There’s something so foundational about having a safe and secure place to live.” Carol serves on the CCJ’s Second Chance Housing Committee, and, being an artist surrounded by other artists, came up with a creative fundraising idea.
She cast 100 tiny plaster houses and recruited about 40 artists, some from other states, to paint the houses in their own unique styles. All the houses will be displayed for a month at the Art Hive gallery. The display will be available to view starting on September 25 at noon, and purchases will begin at 5pm the following Friday, when the monthly Art Walk officially begins. The houses will be set on a shelf at eye level along the walls of the Hive gallery, spaced so that you can see each one apart from the others in its uniqueness, with a mirror behind so you can see the back as well. There will be little “For Sale” signs, which after purchase will be turned around to say, “Sold.” Houses will be priced at $100 and up.
All houses will remain in the display till the following Art Walk, and can be collected by buyers at that time. The hope is that all these tiny artworks will be sold and patrons will also be moved to make donations directly to CCJ, which will have an information table at the opening reception.
The artists say they are excited to work on these themed pieces, as opposed to donating work to the typical silent auction, where art often walks out the door for far less than its retail value. Many artists are doing more than one house and are excited about being at the preview reception on September 25. Carol says, “It’s a project that combines two things I’m really passionate about. I serve on the Second Chance Housing Committee, so I have a passion for easing the housing crisis. My other passion is art and the art community, which is what the Hive is all about. It’s really exciting to bring the arts community into the housing-crisis issue in a way that expresses the mission. “We need more of this in fundraising,” adds Allison, “where it’s not just a big dinner for $300 a plate and donors sit and listen to me talk. This is a fun and creative way to raise funds.”
Funds raised from this tiny-house show will all go directly to CCJ’s Paloma Village project. Located on four acres in Chino Valley, the 25-home project will provide multi-income affordable housing, not just for low-income people but also for those in the work force who have difficulty making rent, who don’t qualify as “low-income” because they make too much money, but not enough to qualify for assistance.
At completion the village will house up to 60 people at an affordable rate, helping to ease the housing crisis in Yavapai County. Paloma Village will have one-, two- and three-bedroom options, rented at below-average rates. Housing will be both transitional, where renters can rent within their limited means till they can transition back into the regular housing market, and permanent, where a resident can have a secure home within limited means, affording the dignity of not having to spend the end of their life alone and homeless.
Work on Paloma Village is progressing apace. All the underground work is complete, with septic done and a well dug. Paving starts soon, after which fundraising for the first house will begin.
Cloud Oakes, director of the Art Hive, is excited about this collaborative initiative between the Hive and the CCJ. “The show should make you question the size of your own house, the integrity and placement of it. It should make you think about housing.” This intersection of culture and community will hopefully incite more such initiatives to benefit our community.
For more information about the Affordable Housing show, go to arthive.space. To learn more about or donate to the CCJ and Paloma Village, go to YavapaiCCJ.org. The Art Hive is at 203 N. Cortez St., next to Murphy’s Restaurant. Gallery hours are Wed-Fri 12-4, 10-4 on Saturdays.
