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ATLANTA — In a part of downtown Atlanta, shipping containers have been transformed into an oasis for dozens of previously unsheltered people who now proudly call a former parking lot home.
The gated micro community known as "The Melody" doesn't look like a parking lot anymore. Artificial turf is spread across the asphalt. Potted plants and red Adirondack chairs abound. There's even a dog park.
The shipping containers have been divided into 40 insulated studio apartments that include a single bed, HVAC unit, desk, microwave, small refrigerator, TV, sink and bathroom. On a recent afternoon, a half-dozen residents were chatting around a table in The Melody's smoking area.
"I'm just so grateful," said Cynthia Diamond, a 61-year-old former line cook who uses a wheelchair and used to be chronically homeless. "I have my own door key. I ain't got to worry about nobody knocking on my door, telling me when to eat, sleep or do anything. I'm going to stay here as long as the Lord allows me to stay here."
Faced with years of rising homelessness rates and failed solutions, city officials across the U.S. have been embracing rapid housing options emphasizing three factors: small, quick and cheap. Officials believe micro communities, unlike shelters, offer stability that, when combined with wraparound services, can more effectively put residents on the path to secure housing.
"Housing is a ladder. You start with the very first rung. Folks that are literally sleeping on the ground aren't even on the first rung," said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, sitting in one of the city's new micro communities that offer tiny, transitional homes for that first rung.
Both Atlanta's and Denver's program act as a stepping stone as they work to get people jobs and more permanent housing, with Denver aiming to move people out within six months.
That includes Eric Martinez, 28, who has been in limbo between the street and the bottom rung for most of his life. At birth Martinez was flung into the revolving door of foster care, and he's wrestled with substance use while surfing couches and pitching tents.
"It's kind of demeaning, it makes me feel less of a person," said Martinez, his eyes downcast. "I had to get out of it and look out for myself at that point: It's fight or flight, and I flew."
Martinez's Denver tent encampment was swept and he along with the others were directed into the micro communities. The city built three such communities with nearly 160 units total in about six months, at roughly $25,000 per unit, said Johnston. The 1,000 converted hotel units cost about $100,000 each.
The program represents an about-face from policies that for years focused on short-term group shelters and the ceaseless shuffle of encampments from one city block to the next.
Services in Denver's and Atlanta's micro communities are largely centralized. They offer residents case management, counseling, mental health and substance abuse therapy, housing guidance and assistance obtaining anything from vocational skills training to a new pair of dentures.
"We're able to meet every level of the hierarchy of needs — from security and shelter, all the way up to self-actualization and the sense of community," said Peter Cumiskey, the Atlanta site clinician.
The Melody, and projects like it, are a "very promising, feasible and cost-effective way" to tackle homelessness, said Michael Rich, an Emory University political science professor who studies housing policy. Rich noted that transitional housing is still just the first step toward permanent housing.
Giving each resident their own bathroom and kitchen is a crucial feature that helps set The Melody apart, said Cathryn Vassell, whose nonprofit, Partners For Home, oversees the micro community. Aside from a prohibition on overnight guests, staff emphasize the tenants are treated as independent residents.
Vassell acknowledged it's unclear how long the containers will last — she's hoping 20 years. But, she said, they were the right choice for The Melody because they were relatively inexpensive and already had handicap-accessible bathrooms since many were used by Georgia hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project, which took only about four months to complete, cost about $125,000 per unit — not "tremendously inexpensive," Vassell said, but less than traditional construction, and much quicker.
The Melody is the first part of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens' target of supplying 500 units of rapid housing on city-owned land by December 2025. A 2023 "point-in-time" count found there were 738 unsheltered people in Atlanta, far fewer than many cities, but still an increase over the previous year.
"We need more Melodies as fast as possible," said Courtney English, the mayor's chief policy officer.
Few objected when The Melody was announced last year, but as city officials seek to expand the rapid-housing footprint, they know local pushback is likely. That's what Denver faced.
"What they are worried about is their current experience of unsheltered homelessness," Johnston said. "We had to get them to see not the world as it used to exist, but the world as it could exist, and now we have the proof points of what that could be."
The scars of life on the street still stick with Martinez. All his belongings are prepped for a move at a moment's notice, even though he feels secure in his tiny home alongside his cat, Appa.
The community has been "very uplifting and supporting," he said, pausing. "You don't get that a lot."
On his wall is a calendar with a job orientation penciled in. The next step is working with staff to get a housing voucher for an apartment.
"I'm always looking down on myself for some reason," he said. But, "I feel like I've been doing a pretty good job. Everyone is pretty proud of me."
Utah business leaders call on a 'village' to help create tiny-home community for homeless
Two sponsored tiny homes were presented Wednesday to the Other Side Village, a future community that will serve Salt Lake's chronically homeless and provide resources to help them get back on their feet.Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
