Just fewer than half of the people who have stayed at the Pallet shelter village for people experiencing homelessness have exited back to the streets or emergency shelter during the program’s first year, and about 25% left to permanent housing.
March 18 marked the anniversary of the village’s opening day, when people first started moving in.
The village of cabin-like shelters on North Michigan Street aims to offer up to 50 people safe, private space so they can transition out of homelessness with dignity.
The units take their name from the Washington-based company that produces them; they are not made of pallets. Each unit has a locking door, small HVAC unit, smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector.
They’re intended to serve people on a longer-term basis than the main Lawrence Community Shelter, 3655 E. 25th St., which has some long-term programming but primarily offers night-by-night shelter in a congregate setting for folks who need a place to sleep. LCS staff members run the village and provide meals for the people staying there.
James Chiselom, executive director of the Lawrence Community Shelter, on Thursday shared with the shelter’s board some statistics from its first year. Chiselom read to the board from a written report that was not available prior to publication, and some stats were incomplete.
By the numbers:
• The Pallet village has served 157 unique individuals between opening day on March 18, 2024 and March 18, 2025. There were 37 people staying there as of Tuesday, March 18.
• Of the 157 total guests:
– 37.5% were women; 59.9% were men; two identified as women and one other gender identity; one identified as more than two gender identities; and one preferred not to answer.
– 57.3% were white; 14% were Black; 6.3% were American Indian or Alaska Native; 16.6% were multiracial; .64% were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; and .64% were Asian.
– 56 said they had a physical disability; 27 said they had a developmental disability; and 57 said they had chronic health conditions.
– 61 guests (39%) had been homeless for a year or more; 96 (61%) for less than a year.
– 15 were veterans.
• The average stay was 91 days — 87 days for people who have left; 106 days for the people who are still there.
• 120 people exited at some point during the first year.
– About 25%, or 30 people, exited to permanent housing;
– 5%, or six people, exited to long-term care or transitional housing;
– 11%, or 13 people, exited to stay with others temporarily;
– And about 46%, or 56 people, exited to the streets or to emergency shelter.
It was not clear from Chiselom’s presentation what happened to the remaining 15 people, or roughly 13%, who exited.
It was also unclear how many people left on their own volition versus how many were kicked out, but after roughly the first six months of Pallet’s operations, 28 people had been kicked out.
• Turnover rate for staff has been about 36.5%, not including folks who left their positions to transfer to a different job within LCS. Three people have quit, and three were terminated.
Chiselom said people leaving to go stay with family or friends temporarily is considered a win. LCS wants to encourage people who have any place to stay to stay there so the shelter is helping folks who have nowhere else to go.
Chiselom told board members that there have been some issues with the laundry units and plumbing at the village, especially during recent periods of extreme cold. The handful of washers and dryers available in trailers onsite are not intended for commercial use, and with several dozen people doing laundry there, they get a lot of use.
They’ve also had some issues with heaters in some of the units as well as smoke detectors, and some locks have had to be replaced. But none of the units have been destroyed, he said.
After the village opened, it had an impermanent community building in place that had some problems, including standing water.
That has been replaced, and Chiselom said, and he thinks the floor is set to be sealed next week.
They’ve added a TV, and “it is really a community room. It’s excellent,” he said.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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