Tiny homes coming to Biloxi for temporary shelters as South MS homeless population grows
A day center serving the homeless population couldn’t have opened at a better time, representatives of social service agencies agreed as Biloxi Diocese Bishop Louis F. Kihneman III blessed the building Tuesday morning.
The Mercy Cross Center opened in Biloxi on the grounds of the former Catholic high school of the same name, which moved north after Hurricane Katrina. An array of agencies will be on hand to assist the homeless population, which increased by 20% in one year in Mississippi’s six southernmost counties.
Social service agencies are collaborating to provide services in the building, once a gymnasium, with the ultimate goal of moving people into permanent homes. The center, operated by Catholic Charities of South Mississippi, is open on weekdays
It is a place to escape the heat or cold, connect with service providers for mental-health counseling and other needs, look for a job on one of the available computers and, on several days each week, find a hot meal.
Biloxi mayor supports center
Homeless people who once slept in tents in the woods are now pitching their tents in an open field and other areas on the Mercy Cross Center grounds, which are relatively isolated. Biloxi Mayor Andrew “Fofo” Gilich, who spoke at the center’s dedication, said the old Broadwater golf course property in central Biloxi, which is overgrown and wooded, had at least 23 homeless camps on it at one point.
The city of Biloxi has thrown its support behind the center. The city has been trying since 2015 to find a site for homeless services but has met with resistance to previously proposed locations. Kihneman, who has served as Biloxi Diocese bishop for more than seven years, was determined to offer help to the homeless population.
“The Lord wants this to happen,” Kihneman told the crowd.
“ . . . May the center be a beacon of Christ’s mercy in our community.”
A Point in Time Count conducted nationwide each year in January found 154 homeless people in the six Coast counties, compared to 135 the previous year, said Deana Wittman, executive director of the Open Doors Homeless Coalition, which is participating in the center project and has about 50 partner organizations.
Kihneman said the center is not meant to offer permanent housing. But transitional housing is in the plans. Back Bay Mission, a nonprofit agency that serves homeless people in the same neighborhood, is working on temporary housing for the Mercy Cross property.
Tiny House solution for homeless population
The STEM class at Gulfport High School has built a prototype of a tiny home that Back Bay is developing. Representatives from Back Bay and other agencies say affordable housing is increasingly difficult to find, which has forced some people onto the streets.
The closet-sized buildings are essentially a bedroom with electricity, offering a way out of the heat or cold. They include a wooden platform along the back wall that can be outfitted with a mattress and provides storage underneath.
Churches in Back Bay Mission’s network have offered to build more of the tiny shelters, which have gained popularity in numerous cities, especially out west.
Back Bay hopes 21 tiny shelters can be built for the Mercy Cross property. Specifications for the buildings are being drawn up, said Dhiana Skrmetti, the nonprofit’s development director. The shelters will be built on trailers for hurricane evacuation, with three shelters per trailer planned.
Back Bay also has seen an increased need for services for homeless people and those living in poverty. When Skrmetti started work in August, she said, the agency’s food pantry served 300 people a month, compared to 550 now.
Back Bay’s executive director, James Pennington, told the crowd at Mercy Cross: “We don’t have a problem with homelessness in Biloxi. We have a problem with poverty . . . We do what we can to move people out of poverty into a promising life.”
