Old motel in Page transforms into transitional housing to combat homelessness
PAGE, AZ (AZFamily) — Homelessness in Arizona has risen by 5 percent in a single year, according to a 2023 report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A lack of affordable housing options has made finding resources hard for rural communities. Now, a new transitional housing complex in Page aims to give people and families a lifeline as they try to get out of homelessness.
“They don’t wake up one day and say, hey, I think I’ll live out on the street today,” Coconino County Supervisor Lena Fowler said. “[A lack of] affordable housing is what we really are faced with in our county.”
Catholic Charities transformed an old motel in the heart of Page into a new transitional housing facility: Pinyon Pointe.
Sarah Rendon, Catholic Charities housing senior program manager, said this is thanks to about $6 million in funding through the Arizona Housing Fund and the Arizona Department of Housing.
“To be able to open a housing project like this in such a small community of Page with limited resources is really going to be amazing,” Rendon said.
The 20 units range from studios to one and two-bedroom apartments.
Residents will also have a case manager to help them with things like budgeting, connecting to mental health needs, and finding permanent housing.
“So our goal is to really help people and walk alongside them as we’re teaching them the skills that they need to maintain housing and obtain more permanent housing in the future,” Rendon said.
But they are also working to create more affordable housing in general. In five years, the complex will transition into low-income permanent housing. “We’re trying to provide our own unique services based on the needs of the community,” Rendon said. “And we definitely saw that here in Page, there was a need for low-income housing.”
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