Local nonprofit builds tiny home for people leaving prison or jail

24th June 2024   ·   0 Comments

By John Gray
Contributing Writer

(Veritenews.org) — Two local nonprofits are teaming up to provide housing for people just getting out of prison or jail in an effort to help them re-enter society.

Phoenix Project NOLA, a housing nonprofit, and The First 72+, a nonprofit that helps former prisoners transition out of incarceration, began building a tiny home near the New Orleans city jail in early June.

Once complete, the one-bedroom apartment located near The First 72’s headquarters on Perdido Street will supply formerly incarcerated people with a vital resource – a home – as they rebuild their lives on the outside.

People who’ve recently been released from incarceration are ten times more likely to be homeless than the general population, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

“Having access to…long-term housing plays a pivotal role in public safety,” said Troy Glover executive director of The First 72+.

The First 72+, which also provides dorm-style temporary housing for people who’ve recently been incarcerated, has already selected someone to live in the first home but is waiting until an upcoming ribbon-cutting ceremony to announce that person’s identity.

Erin Marrero-Savoie, founder and executive director of Phoenix Project NOLA, said she was eager to create transitional housing, but needed the land to build on. The partnership with The First 72+ was developed out of a shared goal to expand housing access for the recently incarcerated.

“They were looking to expand their housing program, they had the land that was available,” Marrero-Savoie said. “It just kind of seemed like a seamless partnership.”

The home will be located across the street from the New Orleans jail, which Marrero-Savoie said was important.

“People need to see that change is possible…for folks in this community,” she said.

The land where the tiny home is being built was leased out to The First 72+ by the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, Glover said.

“To know that the sheriff has bought in gives us a little bit of hope that there is some chance for our justice system,” Marrero-Savoie said. “There’s a chance for things to be turned around in a different way.”

Vacancies in Mid-City have increased over the last 20 years and about half of the area’s renters pay 30 percent or more of their income toward rent, according to The Data Center.

“If you go down the street, you’re gonna see homes that cost $450,000 that were built by people not from here,” Marrero-Savoie said. “What we’re doing is for folks in New Orleans who have been impacted by the [criminal] justice system.”

The new temporary housing initiative exists alongside other programs provided by The First 72+ that specialize in immediate aid for people once they are released from prison.

“The first 72 hours are crucial when someone is released,” Glover said. “Sometimes people just commit small crimes to eat or to be able to pay for housing.”

Marrero-Savoie said that the home will be completed in July.

This article originally published in the June 24, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.