Of Note Rethinking Homeless Shelters by Ingrid Spencer
To say that a story about chronic homelessness is good news may be pushing it, but it’s hard not to feel inspired and uplifted by two of Texas’ newest planned communities: High Cotton Genesis Center in Lubbock and Community First in Austin. Both developments are being created by private enterprises at a time when
In 2012/2013, the number of adults in the country experiencing chronic homelessness was 92,593, with 5,535 of those in Texas. cities are desperate for help. Shrinking governmental funds mean scarce resources for providing regional, long-term solutions for chronically homeless individuals (defined as unaccompanied individuals with a disabling condition who have been either continuously homeless for one year or more, or have experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years.) The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress estimates that in 2012/2013, the number of adults in the country experiencing chronic homelessness was 92,593, with 5,535 of
16 Texas Architect
9/10 2014
High Cotton Genesis Center, Lubbock
As they did in 1997 with the arts nonprofit Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, a group of like-minded individuals in Lubbock is once again tackling a citywide problem using an architectural approach. This time, its with the High Cotton Genesis Center, a community to house and rehabilitate the chronically homeless on a 5-acre site just east of downtown. Architects, civic leaders, and the indomitable Louise Underwood formed a group called the “High Cotton Core” to research the problem, create a program, and put the plan into action. The site, which includes a former
cotton gin and a series of industrial buildings, was donated to the faith-based nonprofit Link Ministries a little over three years ago, and two of the buildings have since been transformed by the organization into youth sports facilities, including an indoor skate park and a boxing gym. “We were called by the Lubbock City Council to help them deal with a serious problem,” says Les Burrus, Link Ministries’ executive director. “The homeless had set up an encampment outside the library and the city was kicking them off the premises, but they had nowhere to go.” “It looked like an Occupy Wall Street movement, but it was a homeless camp,” says David Driskill, AIA, director of Texas Tech University’s Urban Tech Design Center. “We saw a similarity between the arts center organization and those trying to help these homeless, so we decided to get involved and approach the problem in
RENDERINGS COURTESY HIWORKS.
Top HiWorks’ renderings for the High Cotton Genesis Center in Lubbock show the chapel. The anchor of the community, it is a flexible building with a large space for gatherings and spiritual services flanked by an adjacent smaller area for meetings. Bottom The chapel is set among existing structures, such as the former cotton gin.
those in Texas. The organizations and people involved in these two projects recognize that there is a way to bring those numbers down and that, along with the necessary services, it’s a decidedly architectural one.