With a prayer and 11 shovels, members of the Pensacola-Tallahassee Catholic Diocese and others broke ground on a project that they hope will help put a dent in homelessness and give lower-income seniors a chance at stability.
The vacant plot of land at 820 W. Garden St. in Pensacola, across from the diocese’s main office on “B” St., is being cleared to make room for Trinity Village. The development includes nine “tiny” houses that will be available for rent to qualifying, low-income seniors.
“We thank you for the blessings of this place, for the opportunity to be your coworkers, to care for our brothers and sisters, especially those who are in great need in our community, so that this may be a community of love and peace and joy, and we can do your will in all things,” Bishop Bill Wack prayed over the project before the groundbreaking.
Trinity Village is an expansion of the diocese’s Trinity House program, a transitional housing program that opened in 2020 and now provides two communal homes for senior-aged men who are struggling to get back on their feet. For a small fee, the men are offered housing, resources and training to support themselves, including managing their finances.
Deacon Ray Aguado, with St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Gulf Breeze, started the Trinity House program. He saw the need for Trinity Village due to the lack of affordable housing in the rental market for men leaving the program.
“We can take them out of homelessness, give them the skills and the support to become independent but then there's nowhere to go,” said Aguado. “They're ready for that next step and there's nowhere to go.”
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Trinity Village will be available to both men and women who qualify for the low-income rental houses. Aguado says they hope to have the site work finished by the end fall and construction of the tiny homes underway early next year. The diocese owns the land where Trinity Village is going up, but is fundraising to support the build, which is estimated to cost a total of $1.1 million. They’ve raised just over $300,000 so far and will need another $700,000 to $800,000 to finish the project.
“Our target population will be senior citizens because they are so vulnerable, with their health and living on a fixed, low income, and they can be easy prey for scammers,” Aguado said. “Yes, there will be a rent, but of course it'll be affordable. That's why we're hoping we can get our donations so we can build this without any debt and just be able to pay our expenses, our utilities, our insurance, all that stuff with the rents that we collect. That way we can keep our rents low.”
Members of the community, the Catholic Church , and other supporters came to the ceremonial groundbreaking of Trinity Village, including those with the city of Pensacola’s Homelessness Reduction Task Force and Opening Doors of Northwest Florida, the area’s lead agency on homelessness.
Advocates for those who are unhoused support the project because it helps service agencies place people in safe housing and meet the federal goal of reducing homelessness 25% by 2025.
“One of the eight goals in 2025 is to have 10% of the churches in Escambia County (get involved). Ten percent is 60 churches.” said Homelessness Reduction Task Force Chair Connie Bookman at the groundbreaking. “We have 600 churches, so if 60 churches would take on one tiny home or one pallet shelter or one family, we would solve a huge majority of our homeless. God bless you all for your investment, for being here, because that means you care, and you understand, and I'm just so grateful to be a part of this.”
Bishop Wack is grateful to donors and church supporters who have helped get the project this far. He is excited about the work they’re doing with Trinity House and Trinity Village and hopes it will be an inspiration to other area congregations.
“(It has been) said, if every place of worship would adopt one person who is homeless, who was at risk of being homeless we could solve this issue easily,” said Wack. “It just takes each church, if we could all kind of take on one person. We're going to do nine (homes) here in hopes that this will grow.”
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Projects like this are especially welcome news for homeless advocates as communities face not only skyrocketing rents, but also a new state law going into effect Oct. 1 that will prohibit local governments from allowing people who are unhoused to camp on public property. Escambia County and the city of Pensacola are both clearing camps from publicly owned land. While they are offering services to those who want to get off the street, advocates say the evictions will scatter people across the area and there are few places for them to go.
“It's almost impossible to find houses that people can afford to rent,” said Serene Keiek, interim executive director of Opening Doors. “This is what we need to move forward. This is the way we're going to gain momentum and house people and find those solutions and be a safe community once again.”
The city of Pensacola worked with the diocese on the development and the design of the tiny house development. City Council member Allison Patton, who is also a member of the Homelessness Reduction Task Force, was there for the groundbreaking, as well.
“These types of permanent supportive housing developments are exactly what we need to really move the needle,” said Patton. "The local Catholic Diocese is helping senior homeless individuals find a place where they can afford to live safely, so I'm very excited about this development, and I hope we do more of these.”
If you’d like to learn more about Trinity Village or Trinity House, you can visit the website of the Pensacola-Tallahassee Catholic Diocese .
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola-Tallahassee Catholic Diocese building tiny homes for low-income seniors
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