At long last, Providence pallet shelters are finally ready to open
The long-awaited opening of Rhode Island's first community of temporary homeless shelters was heralded with the brass and drums of a marching band Tuesday as a crowd of 200 homeless service advocates and politicians gathered at ECHO Village.
Extraordinary Rendition Band, a protest marching band based in Providence, ushered in the celebration a day before the first group of residents was expected to move into the cabins arranged on a 4-acre site on Victor Street near Route 146. There are 45 cabins in all, each measuring 70 square feet.
'Today we are officially adding this to the portfolio of options for Rhode Island's homeless community,' Gov. Dan McKee told the crowd.
When the project was officially announced in January 2024, the opening date was supposed to open by the end of the first quarter. Its original price tag was $3.3 million, with funding coming from State Fiscal Recovery Funds and Community Development Block Grants, as well the city of Providence. But addressing regulatory gaps in the state fire code delayed the work for a year and ultimately pushed the project over budget by $1.3 million.
Laura Jaworski, executive director of House of Hope, called ECHO Village's long-awaited opening a bittersweet moment.
'It's really a strange place to be to want to mark the opening of a shelter,' Jaworski said. 'We felt it was really important because there was a lot of hard work that has gone into this project to get us to where we are today — I quite honestly believed we would never make it.'
House of Hope is a Warwick-based community nonprofit that will manage the village and connect residents with supportive services including housing and benefits application assistance, job training, substance use recovery and mental health services.
Each cabin has enough space to accommodate a twin bed, night stand, and shelves. They are also equipped with climate control, fire and carbon monoxide detectors, extinguishers, a locking door, and two windows.
The pallet shelter village also has a community room, along with ADA-approved combination bathroom/shower facilities and a laundry room. House of Hope staff will work out of four office structures.
Residents can begin to move in starting Wednesday, Jaworksi told reporters after the ceremony. Move-ins will be in waves, with groups of 10-15 people moving over the next three weeks.
Individuals and couples will be selected to live at the site through the state's Coordinated Entry System — a calling system designed to ensure people experiencing housing insecurity have 'fair and equal access' to shelter. Jawroski told Rhode Island Current that priority will be given to people who have been living on the streets for the longest time.
The expected length of the stay for residents is expected to last around nine months, but could vary depending on each individual's health and other circumstances and whether there is a more permanent place for them to stay, Jaworski said. Four case workers will be on site from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
'It's gonna be an individualized process because of the state of the housing crisis here in Rhode Island,' she said.
Pallet shelters are shown amid the snow on a lot located off Victor Street in Providence on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. The shelters can expect their first occupants beginning Feb. 12. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Shelving inside a pallet shelter in ECHO Village. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Each ECHO Village cabin is outfitted with a twin bed and end table. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Gov. Dan McKee surrounded by reporters after the opening ceremony for ECHO Village on Feb. 11, 2025. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) A smoke detector and sprinkler installed inside one of the ECHO Village cabins. Meeting the state's fire code was one of many factors officials blamed for the delayed opening of Rhode Island's first pallet shelter community. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Resident of ECHO Village will receive a 'wellness pac' in their cabins to provide hygiene supplies. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) A trio of pallet shelters seen along the snow. The 70-square foot cabins can house one person per unit, though a couple can share a space. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) ECHO Village has one laundry station on site.(Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Snow had been shoveled away from the front entrances to the ECHO Village pallet shelters on the day of the opening ceremony on Feb. 11, 2025. (Photo by Christopher Shea) The 70-square foot pallet shelters in ECHO Village are located near a Route 146 offramp in Providence. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) ECHO Village Unit 11 is shown. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Six pallet shelters are shown on the day of the opening of ECHO Village on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Pallet shelters are shown amid the snow on a lot located off Victor Street in Providence on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. The shelters can expect their first occupants beginning Feb. 12. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Shelving inside a pallet shelter in ECHO Village. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Each ECHO Village cabin is outfitted with a twin bed and end table. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Gov. Dan McKee surrounded by reporters after the opening ceremony for ECHO Village on Feb. 11, 2025. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
A smoke detector and sprinkler installed inside one of the ECHO Village cabins. Meeting the state's fire code was one of many factors officials blamed for the delayed opening of Rhode Island's first pallet shelter community. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Resident of ECHO Village will receive a 'wellness pac' in their cabins to provide hygiene supplies. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
A trio of pallet shelters seen along the snow. The 70-square foot cabins can house one person per unit, though a couple can share a space. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
ECHO Village has one laundry station on site.(Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Snow had been shoveled away from the front entrances to the ECHO Village pallet shelters on the day of the opening ceremony on Feb. 11, 2025. (Photo by Christopher Shea)
The 70-square foot pallet shelters in ECHO Village are located near a Route 146 offramp in Providence. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
ECHO Village Unit 11 is shown. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Six pallet shelters are shown on the day of the opening of ECHO Village on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
House of Hope first began pushing for using pallet shelters during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pallet shelters are easily set up to provide emergency shelter for homeless people. Forty-five cabins manufactured by Pallet, a public benefit corporation based in Everett, Washington, were shipped and assembled last February. They sat empty as officials struggled to figure out how the cabins fit into the state's fire and building codes, which had no category for pallet shelters. Officials also couldn't treat them like campsites or dormitories.
The gaps in state regulations prompted House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi to introduce legislation in January that creates a new type of emergency shelter under the state's building code called Supportive and Versatile Emergency (SAVE) units.
Shekarchi's bill, which had its first committee hearing Feb. 4, would allow municipalities to be exempt from the normal fire and building codes for 180 days, so long as a city or town declares an emergency.
McKee said he would sign the bill should it clear the General Assembly, though he told Rhode Island Current that as of Tuesday morning he had yet to read the legislation
'I know the speaker pretty well, he's not going to be asking for something that's unsafe,' McKeesaid.
Speaking to reporters, the governor said his administration plans to regroup and fully assess what caused ECHO Village's delays to ensure similar projects aren't held up in the future.
'We're a few months behind where we wanted to be, but looking forward you have multiple years of helping people,' McKee said.
Help alleviating homelessness, especially during winter months, can't come soon enough, Shekarchi said. He cited the case of Rico Timez Ramy, 48, an unhoused person who, according to the editor of the website Street Sights, regularly slept outside in the Smith Hill neighborhood and reportedly froze to death in January.
'And there are probably others we don't know about,' Shekarchi said. 'We need to do more and we need to do it better.'
The Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness conducted its annual Point-In-Time count for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Jan. 28, but results aren't expected to be released until some time in the summer. At least 2,442 unhoused people across Rhode Island were counted when volunteers conducted an annual survey in late January 2024 — up 35% over the 2023 count.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump gave China the AI chips it wanted. Beijing isn't saying thank you
In a surprising reversal of the United States' years-long technology restrictions on China, President Donald Trump last month allowed Nvidia to resume sales of a key AI chip designed specifically for the Chinese market. Yet rather than celebrating, Beijing's response has been noticeably lukewarm, despite having long urged Washington to ease the stringent export controls. In the weeks since the policy U-turn, Beijing has called the chip a security risk, summoned Nvidia for explanations and discouraged its companies from using it. The less-than-welcoming sentiment reflects Beijing's drive to build a self-sufficient semiconductor supply chain – and its confidence in the progress its rapidly advancing chip industry has made. But the cold shoulder may also represent some political posturing. Despite significant advances in its semiconductor sector, China still needs America's chips and technology. Experts said China's national champion Huawei has developed chips with performance comparable to — and in some cases surpassing — the newly approved Nvidia chip. However, China still wants the more advanced AI processors that remain blocked under US export controls. In the years since Trump first imposed tech restrictions on Huawei during his first term, China's chip technology has made significant strides, spurred by the frustration that mounted as Washington piled on export controls, said Xiang Ligang, director-general of a Beijing-based technology industry group and an advisor to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. 'We have this capability, it's not as they imagine – that if China is blocked, China won't be able to function, or that China will be finished,' he said. To him, the policy about-face only reflects the importance of having a wholly homegrown chip supply chain. 'For Chinese companies, we may only have one choice if we wish to ensure a relatively secure supply of chips – that means relying on our own domestically produced chips,' Xiang said. That may be China's goal, but in the high-stakes AI race, with all its national security implications, the US remains the leader, at least for now. China is not 'naive' The chip in focus is Nvidia's H20, which was released by the AI chip leader last year to maintain access to the Chinese market following strict export controls put in place under the Biden administration that stopped the export of chips with high processing power. Last month, Trump greenlit the sales of the chip to China after banning it in April as the US trade frictions with China deepened. Trump has justified his decision by calling the chip 'obsolete,' as it lags behind the company's cutting-edge AI processors like Blackwell or H100, from which H20 is derived. He and his officials appeared to have embraced a view long promoted by Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang – that US can maintain its tech leadership only through ensuring its chips remain the global standard. 'You want to sell the Chinese enough that their developers get addicted to the American technology stack,' Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last month. But the dramatic reversal has fueled questions about Trump's transactional approach to national security – once considered off-limits to bargaining. China, on the other hand, is alarmed by the alleged security risks of Nvidia's H20s like 'tracking and positioning' and 'remote shutdown' features, capabilities that some US lawmakers have called for but Nvidia denies it has placed in its chips. China's cyberspace watchdog and industry ministry have since summoned the American chip giant over the security concerns and urged firms to avoid H20 chips, a development which was previously reported by Bloomberg. One major Chinese tech company which has developed its AI models has received notice from the authorities urging it to exercise caution in the use of H20s, and advising it not to purchase them, a company insider said on the condition of anonymity. CNN has reached out to the ministry and the cyberspace authorities for comment. An Nvidia spokesperson told CNN that NVIDIA 'does not have 'backdoors' in our chips that would give anyone a remote way to access or control them.' 'Banning the sale of H20 in China would only harm US economic and technology leadership with zero national security benefit,' the spokesperson added. But China believes the US isn't playing fairly, Xiang said. 'What we actually want, you refuse to sell us. For the things you already consider obsolete, you still want to dump them into our market and occupy our market. Do you really think we're that naive?' he said. Still coveted Despite Beijing's concerns and the H20's reduced performance, the chips remain highly sought after by Chinese companies. Equity research firm Bernstein estimated that shipment of the chips to China this year would have reached 1.5 million units, or about 23 billion in revenue, without Trump's export restrictions. Major buyers include Chinese tech giants such as TikTok owner ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent. While Huawei's top AI chips excel in computing power – one of the key measures in evaluating processors' performance – in comparison with H20, they fall short in terms of memory bandwidth, which determines how much data can move between a chip's memory and computing unit. That bandwidth depends on a technology known as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) used in AI chips to ensure efficient data transmission in AI model training. China's top HBM maker CXMT, or ChangXin Memory Technologies, is still about three to four years behind industry leaders like South Korea's SK Hynix and Samsung, and American Micron, according to MS Hwang, research director at Counterpoint Research, a research firm. Last year, the Biden administration further tightened export controls on China, including restrictions on HBM sales, forcing Chinese companies to rely on existing stockpiles. Beijing has requested Washington to lift restrictions on HBM as part of the trade deal negotiations, Financial Times reported this week. Key appeal of H20 for Chinese companies also lies in Huawei's limited production capacity and Nvidia's well-established ecosystem, said Qingyuan Lin, senior analyst at Bernstein focusing China's semiconductor industry. 'Even when you want to completely replace the H20 demand with the local guys, they're not able to deliver the amount of chips that's needed,' he said. The supply bottlenecks stem from constraints in scaling up production of both the manufacturing of computing units of the AI chips and the integration of various components in them, a technology known as advanced packaging in the industry, Lin said. Bernstein estimated that Huawei's shipments of its advanced AI chips in 2025 would amount to around 700,000 units, still far short of the demand in the country. CNN has reached out to Huawei for comment. Meanwhile, Nvidia's powerful ecosystem, which integrates its chips with its software platform, has created what experts call a 'moat,' making it difficult and costly for AI developers who train models on its software to switch to alternatives. 'The H20 comes with a complete ecosystem covering both hardware and software support, ensuring better compatibility and ease of integration,' said Brady Wang, associate director at Counterpoint. 'This ecosystem maturity is still a challenge for many Chinese-developed chips, making the H20 more attractive despite its cost disadvantage.' 'Very close' Still, experts said China's rapid progress in semiconductor technology should not be underestimated. Years of tightening export controls have injected both urgency and opportunity into Beijing's push for self-sufficiency, Lin said. While chipmaking technology appeared to stall after Huawei's 2023 flagship smartphone showcased advanced chips that American officials had deemed extremely difficult to produce, domestic chipmaking equipment companies have been steadily gaining ground, he said. 'The local guys actually had very little chance to gain share from the global players because of the technology gap, but export controls created a market that didn't exist before and accelerated the domestic substitution,' he said. Bernstein projects that the percentage of homemade AI chips in China will surge from 17% in 2023 to 55% by 2027, while American suppliers like Nvidia and AMD will shrink to 45% from 83%. In April, Huang of Nvidia met with Trump in Washington, urging the administration to loosen export controls on chips and saying that the diffusion of American AI technology around the world needs to be accelerated. 'There's no question that Huawei is one of the most formidable technology companies in the world…they made enormous progress in the last several years,' he said. 'China is right behind us. We're very, very close.' CNN's Hassan Tayir and Fred He contributed reporting. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Man arrested, accused of threatening harm to Dearborn justice march attendees
A 27-year-old man is in custody after he allegedly made threats to people attending a march for justice in Dearborn, Michigan, on Saturday, police said. The Garden City, Michigan, man was arrested "within hours" after he allegedly made threats to harm people at the Arba'een Procession. According to the Dearborn-based nonprofit Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center, the event honored Imam Hussain, a prominent figure in Islam. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and Police Chief Issa Shahin released the following joint statement on Saturday in response to the alleged threats: "When someone threatens violence against our community, we will act swiftly and decisively. There is zero tolerance for threats of this nature, and anyone who attempts to sow fear or division will be held fully accountable. The safety and unity of our community will always come first." The Dearborn Police Department said it's constantly monitoring social media and other platforms for threats of violence. Investigators are looking into the alleged threats. The Shia Muslim Foundation, a nonprofit supporting the civic rights of American Shia Muslims, says it's "deeply alarmed" by the alleged threats.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
California Republicans accuse Newsom of 'sinister redistricting scheme' after Trump mockery
After California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would move forward with a state redistricting plan – replete with implied mockery of President Donald Trump – California Republicans responded late Thursday. Newsom had declared "liberation day" – an apparent reference to Trump's own moniker for the day he introduced a comprehensive tariff regime – and preceded the announcement with "ALL CAPS" social media posts meant to mock the president's penchant for doing the same on Truth Social. California Republicans were not amused and pushed back on the project that could put an end to their already muted federal representation in America's most populous state. "Californians demand and deserve transparency from their government. Governor Newsom's sinister redistricting scheme is the opposite," the top Republican on the state's Elections Committee said. California's Top Republican Rips Dems Blocking 'Oil Goldmine' After New Trump Project Rebuffs Schiff "There is no public input," lamented state Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, as the state hosts nine Republican federal House lawmakers of the 52 total. The state's last Republican senator was Sen. John Seymour in 1991 – who had been appointed for a brief stint after Sen. Pete Wilson resigned to take the governor's office. Read On The Fox News App Macedo suggested Newsom would go to great lengths just to grab national headlines, no matter what the "will of the voters" is in reality. "Governor Newsom is on a mission to take power away from the California Citizens Redistricting Commission," Macedo said of the panel that typically would help decide decennial mapping. "Governor Newsom's power-grab erodes public trust in our government. Undermining the commission's hard work … is shortsighted and insulting to voters," said Macedo, whose caucus holds 19 of the 60 assembly seats. Mamdani Studies 'America's Worst Mayor' Brandon Johnson To Avoid His Political Pitfalls: Report Newsom, however, defended his decision, saying that Trump "poked the bear" – the animal which also appears on the Golden State's flag – and that California will therefore push back. "DONALD 'TACO' TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, 'MISSED' THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE 'BEAUTIFUL MAPS,' THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!)," Newsom wrote in his Trump-esque post. Trump has supported a "simple redrawing" of the Texas congressional map to represent the state's Republican bent, he said. "We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas, I got the highest vote in the history of Texas as you probably know. And we are entitled to five more seats," Trump recently said. Sen. Brian Jones, R-San Diego, leader of the upper chamber's minority in Sacramento, directed Fox News Digital to recent comments prior to the official announcement by Newsom. "Californians didn't elect Newsom to play gerrymandering games to boost his presidential campaign, they elected him to solve problems here at home," said Jones, who leads 10 senators compared to the Democrats' 30. "What he's doing now undermines the independent redistricting commission that voters created to stop exactly this kind of political manipulation." He also ripped Democrats after hearing that California Secretary of State Shirley Weber told reporters the legislature would have only a short window to schedule a special election for redistricting to coincide with the November elections. California lawmakers are on summer recess until Monday. The process would have to finish by next Friday; five days. "Once again, Newsom convinced Senate and Assembly Democrats to roll over, ignore voters, rush sham hearings, and violate the California Constitution," Jones said. "Democracy is dead in California, killed by Newsom's corrupt pursuit of the presidency." Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this article source: California Republicans accuse Newsom of 'sinister redistricting scheme' after Trump mockery
