Ten tiny homes are being transferred from Erie County to Crawford County to provide affordable housing through the non-profit organization Common Roots.
The structures were originally part of Erie County’s unfinished “A Pathway Home” village project, which was initially intended to construct 25 tiny homes for individuals experiencing homelessness.
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Erie County officials determined that finishing the original village project would have cost more than $2 million. Consequently, the county administration decided to give the structures to local non-profit organizations.
Because the structures were acquired using American Rescue Plan Act funds, federal rules restrict how Erie County can dispose of them. Erie County Executive Christina Vogel said the county is legally prohibited from selling the units.
“Because they were made with ARPA dollars, I think it’s important for people to understand that we’re not allowed to sell them, we’re not allowed to profit off of them,” Vogel said.
Common Roots, a Crawford County non-profit based in Meadville, develops permanently affordable housing and teaches residents how to build and repair homes. The organization received stackable structures and plans to assemble the 10 units into five two-story homes on vacant lots across the city. Julie Wilson, executive director of Common Roots, stated that transforming the unfinished units into usable housing requires extensive preparation.
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“They take a lot of work to become code compliant,” Wilson said. “Solving the challenges around housing require a lot of creativity and because we have builders on our staff and we have a lot of people that want to help and volunteer, they look at this project as exciting.”
The project comes as Meadville deals with blight, aging housing stock and rising rental costs. Wilson noted that Meadville’s proportion of renters is double the state average.
“Meadville is now 70% rental,” Wilson said. “The statewide average, just to give you a sense, is 35% rental. It’s a very high rental rate and you couple that with a lot of different maintenance and we all know rents have gone up.”
Erie County is managing the delivery of all structures. Four tiny homes have arrived in Meadville and the remaining six will be transported once weather conditions clear. Applications for housing programs are currently open online. Wilson emphasized that repurposed materials should fulfill their original intent of providing shelter.
“This is a lot of material, right?” Wilson said. “You don’t want it to go to waste. They were supposed to create homes for people, so let’s see if we can do it. If any organization can pull it off, it’s going to be us.”
Common Roots has already begun creating site plans on vacant lots across Meadville, with plans to make the homes available for its housing programs by next year. More information can be found online here.
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