The long-awaited opening of the Echo Village Pallet shelter on Tuesday was celebrated with speeches by state and local officials and a musical welcome from the Extraordinary Rendition Band. This project brings online 45 shelters, a freestanding community room building, a laundry building, bathrooms, showers and offices where residents can meet with social workers. (This photo was taken last November.) We have been covering the delays in this project for over a year and the fire code keeps coming up. According to the ProJo:
Satisfying fire safety requirements for a form of housing not contemplated in any state code proved particularly challenging and even after a building permit was issued last summer, finding the right materials to comply added to construction time.
The delay inspired House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi to introduce legislation that, in the future, would provide expedited permitting for projects like ECHO.
It seems possible that many of the current regulations stem from the enormous over-correction resulting from the trauma of the Station nightclub fire in 2003. Several small venues closed immediately. And, as noted above, this is a form of housing not previously contemplated and the current code is simply a bad fit.
The ProJo piece adds that Amy King, CEO of Pallet, the company that builds the shelters, said the permitting in Rhode Island was the longest she had ever seen for a similar project. Maybe Speaker Shekarchi can verify that and craft some legislative remedies so we can build more of these.
In the meantime, kudos to House of Hope executive director Laura Jaworski for shepherding this project to completion. The non-profit will continue with oversight of the village.
WPRI has video from yesterday:
House of Hope’s street outreach team is helping individuals move out of unsafe living situations to ECHO Village starting Wednesday afternoon. Client move-ins will be in waves, with groups of 10 to 15 people moving in each week.
“At House of Hope, we believe housing is a basic human right – and too many Rhode Islanders have been denied this right for far too long,” House of Hope Executive Director Laura Jaworski said.
Echo Village is on Victor Street, on land between Douglas Avenue and Route 146.