‘Investing in our neighborhood:’ Route 66 lodge to turn out to be emergency housing | Regional

The lodge — at first acknowledged as The Crown — initial opened in 1967. It was a beloved end for vacationers together with the Crown Railroad Cafe before eventually turning into a Howard Johnson.

After 60 yrs, the motel closed its doorways to the community in March. The closing doesn’t mark the close of The Crown’s heritage, but a new commencing. Soon, dozens of Flagstaff’s family members, medically vulnerable and senior citizens will simply call it household.

Flagstaff Shelter Solutions (FSS) purchased the Howard Johnson resort for just about $6 million before this month — a sweeping achievement that offers the corporation the potential to deliver crisis shelter for an approximated 1,000 people each and every yr.

The 72,000-square-foot, 58-area resort will be daily life-transforming for some and lifesaving for others, in accordance to FSS Director Ross Schaefer.

“Housing is healthcare and it performs,” Schaefer mentioned. “For us to be equipped to provide this area to 58 models is a large, significant deal for this neighborhood.”

FSS first turned to inns at the start out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shelters are inherently tight spaces — particularly in Flagstaff — and the virus was rampant in congregate settings. But homelessness would not only prevent becoming a challenge all through the pandemic, and they ended up scrambling to obtain a way to home the most vulnerable, to hold them secure and alive.

FSS had no selection but to adapt, and before long they turned to accommodations a few motels, such as two in the downtown location, immediately remodeled into crisis housing. No a person knew they have been there and it retained folks harmless. They noticed zero COVID-positive conditions for months.

It was also “insanely pricey,” although, with Schaefer estimating they put in “hundreds of 1000’s of pounds” every thirty day period renting rooms.

The results quickly spurred the thought of acquiring a resort to continue on on a greater, a lot more lasting and monetarily sustainable scale.

“This is an expenditure in us — this is an expense in this firm,” Schaefer explained. “We’re now putting that dollars directly into the people today.”

“This was the dream,” she added. “It can be investing in our clients’ long term and investing in our community.”

The funding arrived from the Arizona Section of Housing’s obtain to $40 million in Point out Restoration Resources allotted by means of the American Rescue Prepare Act. The dollars was specifically established apart for transforming motels into crisis housing. Added money also came from the Forest Highlands Basis and the Arizona Diamondbacks Basis.

“By converting present properties in rural communities to housing, as Flagstaff Shelter Expert services did in this scenario with ADOH funding, solutions get to the persons who will need them a lot quicker than by making from the ground up,” Arizona Department of Housing Director Tom Simplot stated. “This is the initial of what we anticipate becoming many successful conversion assignments in rural Arizona.”

Citizens will be prioritized centered on want and vulnerability. The Crown will give the similar thorough companies accessible in common congregate options, these kinds of as foods, clinical care, behavioral health and rehousing companies. FSS treatment coordinators will be on-internet site 24 hours per day, 7 times per week. Some of the most used local community associates will also have an on-web page presence, which include Native Individuals for Group Motion, North Region Healthcare, The Direction Center, Southwest Behavioral & Health Services and Flagstaff Family members Food items Heart.

Ultimately, the website will transition to provide long-lasting supportive housing to help Flagstaff’s crucial cost-effective housing shortage.

Schaefer stated that probable won’t be for a couple of decades, however.

The hotel will return to the previous name of The Crown as a nod to the first landmark assets. You will find also ideas to upgrade the facility and the surrounding property.

“To be ready to put it in the arms of an group we know is going to be a very long-time period warden of this assets and likely to do some operate to restore it again to its formal glory…I really enjoy that,” stated FSS board member David Hayward, who is also a developer and the chair of Flagstaff’s Heritage Preservation Commission. “Receiving to see individuals go in right here is heading to be wonderful.”

Some exterior and inside alterations are in the functions, these types of as filling in the pool, improving upon accessibility and making the units a lot more suitable for very long-expression housing by introducing kitchenettes.

Practically nothing will alter with The Crown Railroad Cafe. The Route 66 staple has no designs to go. It can be a part of the group, just as Schaefer and numerous other individuals with FSS hope The Crown turns into.

“We want to make sure individuals know our intentions is to make houses for 58 homes and that, in flip, will raise up the community,” Schaefer explained. “This is lifesaving and daily life-altering for people today and our group.”