Jamie de la Cruz was sleeping in a tent in the woods until Jan. 30, when he was one of the first people to be housed in a new pallet village for the homeless in Georgetown.
Springboard Pallet Village, planned and operated by nonprofit The Springboard Collaborative, is the first of its kind in Delaware. It’s now providing shelter for 44 previously homeless people.
“It’s great, being given an opportunity to have a place to stay, start saving some money and start looking for more permanent housing,” de la Cruz said.
The 20-year-old has struggled with homelessness since aging out of the foster care system, he said. Many of the people at the village are chronically homeless, according to project manager Trish Hill.
“A lot of shelter systems, they’re 30 days then back on the street,” Hill said. “That’s not always helpful, especially for the chronically homeless.”
Who’s eligible to live in the village
Residents of Springboard Pallet Village are evaluated every three months, but can stay indefinitely as long as they’re making efforts toward their goals. They’re required to develop three goals upon intake, one of which must be a housing goal.
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In the weeks since the village opened, staff has assisted at least seven people in entering drug and alcohol detox programs, according to Hill.
“This is a huge adjustment for people who have been living in the woods without any rules,” she said. “We’re working through that.”
What are the houses like
The pallet village is located on an acre of land on Kimmey Street, behind First State Community Action Center. It consists of 40 Pallet, Inc. shelters, which are 64 square feet with raised beds, electricity and heat and air conditioning.
The fenced-in village includes a bathhouse with showers, and a community center is planned to be built. For now, a temporary structure has been erected for dining.
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A food service manager was recently hired to find a meal provider, but in the meantime, the community has stepped up, Hill said. (If you’d like to volunteer or provide a meal or essential items to residents at Springboard Pallet Village, contact Hill at 302-841-1691.)
“It’s everything I thought it would be and more,” said Georgetown Mayor Bill West.
How the village got its start
The town council voted unanimously in support of the two-year pilot project in 2021, in part due to an encampment of about 50 homeless people that had formed in the woods at the end of Douglas Street.
Prior to the pandemic, according to a Housing Alliance Delaware report, the number of homeless in each county was “roughly representative of the county’s share of the state’s population.” In 2021 and 2022, however, more than 1 in 3 homeless Delawareans were in Sussex County, the report found.
Statewide, the Housing Alliance’s point-in-time counts found the number of people experiencing homelessness has more than doubled since the pandemic began.
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