Pioneering New Frontiers in Emergency and Supportive Housing Solutions
Tinkelman Architecture in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. are thought leaders in refining housing paradigms. With a firm commitment to innovation and social responsibility, we spearhead initiatives across a spectrum of housing needs, ranging from luxurious living to essential workforce accommodations. Our dedication extends beyond conventional boundaries, as we pioneer groundbreaking projects aimed at addressing homelessness. By blending design excellence with a compassionate understanding of societal needs, we are shaping a future where housing is not merely a structure but a catalyst for positive change.
Architects hold a pivotal role in addressing the pressing needs of homeless residents in Dutchess and Orange Counties, and throughout New York State. Through innovative design solutions, architects can contribute significantly to creating safe, dignified, and sustainable housing options for those experiencing homelessness.
Firstly, architects possess the expertise to design efficient and cost-effective housing solutions tailored to the unique challenges faced by homeless individuals and families. By collaborating closely with stakeholders, including local governments, nonprofit organizations, and community members, architects can develop designs that not only provide shelter but also incorporate supportive services such as counseling, healthcare, and job training.
Secondly, architects can leverage their skills to repurpose existing structures or develop new buildings that meet the specific needs of homeless populations, including transforming vacant properties into temporary shelters. With vision and expertise, and a command of local, state and national regulations and standards, we guide our clients through the complex process of designing and obtaining approvals for projects that address the acute needs of people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.
Three case studies, with details below, demonstrate approaches to this goal.
·Don Petruncola, now Tinkelman Architecture’s Director of Architectural Services, led the planning and design for The Newburgh Ministry’s expansion of a winter drop-in warming site in Newburgh, N.Y., into a year-round shelter.
Tinkelman Architecture is helping The Newburgh Ministry create new, attractive, cost-efficient supportive housing that helps people to live with dignity.
Tinkelman Architecture has helped guide Dutchess County in a search for a permanent shelter, exploring the benefits of converting an existing office building and an unneeded jail facility.
The Newburgh Ministry Establishes a Permanent Shelter
In 2008, The Newburgh Ministry, a non-profit organization in Newburgh, N.Y., expanded its Winterhaven drop-in warming center program. Don Petruncola, the current Director of Architectural Services for Tinkelman Architecture, spearheaded the project that transformed the winter refuge for the homeless (who often had only chairs to sleep in), into year-round shelter with 18 beds.
With Don’s leadership, the project navigated a complex planning and approvals course. The accommodations capacity was kept low to simplify the approval processes. Still, the project was detailed in the program and services provided. It entailed converting the underused second story of an old factory building into a shelter while renovating the first floor for supportive programs.
Located in the city’s East End Historic District, the facility is now a drop-in center with a hospitality room and a center for children to play and learn. It had operated a thrift store and provides on-site employment training and advocacy/counseling services. Overnight accommodations feature private showers and toilet rooms, a kitchen and a dining area. With an added entrance and elevator wide enough for ease of use by those with mobility issues, the center is fully accessible.
With functional design, the community center is more than a place to reside. As described by the Little Sisters of the Assumption, one of the Newburgh Ministry’s founding partners, the center “enables a person to rediscover themselves, assume responsibility for their own lives and cooperate with one another to help bring about change in their lives and the community.”
A Second Newburgh Ministry Project
The success of the Newburgh Ministry shelter and the acquisition of two adjoining parcels led to a new idea: a five-story addition on the adjoining land to accommodate 50 studio and one-bedroom apartments for permanent, supportive housing. Tinkelman Architecture is helping guide the project through the multi-faceted municipal approvals process.
The project, to be called Legacy House, is a prime opportunity to provide more badly needed housing.
But it first must obtain many approvals from various agencies. In addition to the New York State family of building codes that it must meet, the state Homes and Community Renewal agency (HCR) sets design guidelines for program and spatial needs, including green building and sustainability goals.
At Tinkelman Architecture, we are working with these regulations on another project, Admiral Halsey II in Poughkeepsie. We understand that efficient spatial planning and efficient building systems are paramount to keeping the project within reach for construction.
For the Newburgh project, the first stop was the Architectural Review Commission (ARC). Newburgh’s East End Historic District, the second largest historic district in New York State, includes much of the city’s southeastern quarter and is home to some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Industrial properties, including the Newburgh Ministry, are concentrated near the Hudson River.
The ARC requested that the building style reflect the existing simplicity of the Ministry factory building with plain facades, modest brick detailing and large windows. The new housing is designed to evoke this neo-industrial style.
Many more municipal approvals are required before the earth is turned and construction of Legacy House begins.
Dutchess County Explores Re-Use Options
Tinkelman Architecture is helping Dutchess County meet its need for permanent emergency housing to replace the temporary structures currently used. Time is of the essence. Other county facilities are expected to expand onto the property now occupied by the structures currently in use.
We were charged with assessing two alternatives: the reuse of a 20,000-square-foot office building with an unusual history, and the repurposing of an unneeded jail. Both options came with their own challenges in meeting requirements for adequate facilities.
The county eventually opted to adapt the office building, which is at 26 Oakley St., Poughkeepsie. Constructed as the Mobil exhibition pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair, it was relocated from Queens, N.Y., in the early 1980s, when it was expanded and converted to offices. The emergency housing program there would include capacity for 99 beds, with supporting restrooms, showers, and a dining room with a warming kitchen.
The proposal for reuse of that building faces a mosaic of regulations that must be followed. With the adaption of the building as homeless housing, all additions and renovations must comply fully with the building code requirements of a change of use for fire and safety protection. Those mandates are laid out in various codes and sets of regulations, including 2020 New York State Building and Fire Codes and a full suite of referenced standards for fire protection, electrical, energy conservation and heating, refrigeration and air conditioning and accessibility.
The project received a boost when the county was awarded $13 million in New York State funding. Tinkelman Architecture is working with the county to determine the most cost-effective ways to apply the funding to provide the extensive plumbing, mechanical and fire protection systems required.
In addition to construction code standards, a shelter must comply with the regulations of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), which provides shelter oversight. Those rules dictate the operational and service requirements for emergency shelters including minimum program needs and standards for staffing, resident services, food service, assessments, recordkeeping and funding.
Tinkelman Architecture provided a design for the safe separation of men’s and women’s quarters and toilet facilities, while also minimizing circulation space. The plan makes use of a card-controlled system to maintain separate living quarters and toilet and bathing facilities for men and women. For the dining area, operational practices would maintain the separation. In addition, the design includes approximately 12 added office spaces, along with service support spaces and exterior improvements to meet the client’s needs for access, parking, security and guest recreational amenities.
A key to keeping costs down in designing residences for the homeless is in the careful selection of materials. Painted sheetrock, vinyl plank flooring, plastic laminated countertops and tile bathrooms create welcoming spaces with durable, cost-effective materials.
While the county ultimately opted not to adapt the 1995 Dutchess County Jail – the other plan considered – Tinkelman Architecture provided a thorough assessment and design for the re-use. The project would have adapted the facility at 150 N. Hamilton St., Poughkeepsie, to accommodate up to 124 single men and women.
Conversions of former jails into shelters have been contemplated across the country and the projects are not without controversy. They are impacted by a negative public opinion or initial impressions toward such a re-use. But jail facilities have several advantages for repurposing as shelters, including provisions for individual sleeping rooms and substantial space for guest activity and comprehensive on-site services, as well as built-in security controls.
Tinkelman Architecture evaluated the New York State Building Code requirements for the proposed new use of the jail in a report that provides diagrams of the proposed program fit and summarizes the scope of work needed. That work includes not only restoring architectural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems but also upgrading them to accommodate the new use.
Under the building code, the jail operated as an Institutional I-3 use. If adapted to the new use, some possible “pre-existing nonconformance” conditions may have been permitted to remain, largely through the local Authority Having Jurisdiction approval. Those notwithstanding, we explored the requirements in the 2020 New York State Existing Building Code and, by reference, the 2020 New York State Building Code. We found that, in some cases, the features of the current building were sufficient for a shelter.
We considered requirements for R-1 and I-1 uses as there was initially some debate about the proper occupancy classification for a shelter.
Residential Group R-1 uses contain sleeping units in which occupants are primarily transient, including: Boarding houses or congregate living facilities (transient) with more than 10 occupants.
Institutional Group I-1 uses include buildings for more than 16 persons who reside on a 24-hour basis in a supervised environment and who receive custodial care. These include residential board and care facilities and social rehabilitation facilities.
A conversion from a jail to a homeless shelter typically would change the use from Institutional I-3 use to Residential Group R-1, where the occupants are primarily transient. Though not specifically defined in the 2020 Building Code of New York State, “homeless shelters” are included in New York City’s code:
405.4 Emergency Preparedness in Homeless Shelters and Emergency Shelters. Group R-1 residential buildings or occupancies operated or occupied as a homeless shelter, and any emergency shelter, shall comply with the emergency preparedness requirements of this section.
For fire hazard, height and area requirements, the shelter would have had an equal or lesser hazard classification, meaning the existing life safety, means of egress, height and area would have met the requirements of the Existing Building Code of New York State.
For the jail, Tinkelman Architecture calculated the egress widths and compliance with the maximum allowable path of travel to an exit and confirmed that they were sufficient for the new use, with its proposed occupant load.
Still, conversion of the jail would require substantial work, as prisoner cells did not meet all the safety regulations governing R-1 sleeping rooms. Use as a shelter would require modifications to the emergency lighting system, power distribution, automatic sprinkler system, smoke detection, carbon monoxide detection and alarms.
Tinkelman Architecture developed a “fit” design for program spaces to be accommodated, including:
Intake and registration with emergency shower and laundry
Nurse’s office
Case managers’ offices
Administration and director’s work space
Staff lounge
Conference rooms
Employment, computer and providers’ spaces
Storage
Multi-purpose/activity room
Dining room with warming kitchen
Loading dock
New guest washer and dryer facilities at each sleeping room suite
Staff work/management areas at guest suites with staff toilets
New guest common toilet rooms for men and women
We prepared floor plans for each level with program areas identified and color-coded.
One problematic issue was the guest sleeping room size. Most of the former cells in the Dutchess County facility are 73-75 net square feet, shy of the 80 net square feet standard for individual sleeping rooms set by the OTDA. Further, the construction type did not permit selective demolition without the danger of costly budget impacts.
OTDA officials explored whether an area variance would resolve the issue. But the benefits of using the jail are clear. The condition and type of structure, and mechanical, plumbing and security systems can be adapted for use as a shelter more readily than many other structures.
Meanwhile, the problem of homelessness remains steadfast in our communities.
Colin Jarvis, Executive Director of the Newburgh Ministry, says many low-income individuals and families are priced out of the housing market, and adds, “If we don't step in and try to erect supportive housing that would be sustainable for folks who are on fixed incomes and rely on public assistance, then we'll continue to have the issues of homelessness. Poverty does not necessarily mean that folks should not live in dignity. That's what we're trying to do – restore a measure of dignity, a measure of pride in the community. That's why we decided to step into the arena and help to effect change, insofar as really getting folks help and sustainable, decent permanent, supportive housing.”
Tinkelman Architecture is honored to be able to play a role in addressing this important issue. We are committed to being part of the solution by providing smart, attractive, cost-effective designs and guiding our clients through the complexities of government regulations and other applicable standards. We all want to reach the same goals: providing warm shelters during the winter cold, accommodating health and emotional support services in a safe environment, and transitioning our neighbors to well-designed, well-built permanent housing.
If you are evaluating options for the design of homeless housing or shelter accommodations in your community, Tinkelman Architecture would be pleased to discuss your project needs and potential solutions. Reach us at (845) 473-0200 or info@tinkarch.com. Learn more about us at www.tinkarch.com. And join us as we continue to push the boundaries of architectural possibility, creating spaces that elevate lives and communities alike. Tinkelman Architecture: where visionary design meets compassionate action.
