PHOTOS: Pallet Houses Open a Year Late and More Than Twice the Cost of Other Cities
GoLocalProv News Team and Photographer Richard McCaffrey
PHOTOS: Pallet Houses Open a Year Late and More Than Twice the Cost of Other Cities
A year after the pallet homes were completed and nearly three years after Professor Erich Hirsch of Providence College called on Governor Dan McKee to then take “immediate action” to provide 500 mini-houses to address the growing need for the unsheltered in Rhode Island, 45 homes are completed.
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The project comes in at approximately $4 million for the 45 units. The cost is two to three times the cost of other communities building similar facilities.
However, the McKee administration scaled back the proposal and then delayed it. State officials blamed regulations for the delay.
On Tuesday, GoLocal’s photographer Richard McCaffrey was on site for the opening of the project.
The pallet homes, dubbed Echo Village, are 45 one-room Pallet units, each 70 square feet; four office units; three hygiene units that include four full baths, one ADA bathroom, and one staff bathroom; one laundry unit; and one large community unit. Each unit is equipped with fire suppression systems, smoke and CO detectors, heating and cooling units, and fire-retardant paint, all ensuring the safety and well-being of residents.
McKee, Speaker of the House Joseph Shekarchi, Providence Brett Smiley, and Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard were in attendance for the ceremony.
