As Faith Renderer shows off her small living space, she points to a plant in the top corner of the room.
"I actually can grow another avocado tree,” she said excitedly.
Renderer actually has space for her hobby in the 64-square foot pallet. Imagine a small backyard shed with some outlets for charging devices, and air conditioning.
Renderer, 74, says she's been homeless since 2021. This is her second time at Tampa HOPE, a shelter run by Catholic Charities.
She was pumped when she found out she was getting what she calls a "cottage" of her own.
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"They walked up to me and they go, 'Oh, I gotta tell you something.' I'm thinking it's bad. [They said] ‘You're going into a cottage now.’ [I said] ‘Yes, yes, yes! I'm so happy," Renderer recalled.
She says food she gets can stay fresh a bit longer. In the tents she had to worry more about bugs, and the biggest factor — the heat.
"Let me tell you, you want to lose weight, be in the sun," Renderer said.
She says she also has a bit more privacy in the pallet. She can lock her door.
"In a tent you can't walk around naked, and here you can. It's a big deal for these guys,” Renderer said.
Pallets provide homes for those in need
Tampa HOPE officials say they have 99 pallets, and 89 of them are for one person each. The remaining 10 fit two. Each pallet can be assembled in about an hour and cost around $15,000.
Officials say they're on track to add 90 more units by mid-2025.
Tampa HOPE director Eric Marrero says the pallets get his residents out of survival mode.
"They have a door they can lock, they feel a little bit more safe than in one of our tents or just being out in the streets,” Marrero said. “So I think they're very receptive to this, and they're very appreciative of having it. It might be 64 square feet, but it's their 64 square feet."
Marrero says the residents' stays are temporary as Tampa HOPE works with them to find permanent housing and maybe even a job.
Pallet CEO and founder Amy King said she started the idea as she saw pervasive homelessness in the Seattle area, where she lives.
With a recent law passed in Florida that bans sleeping in public places, King says that makes something like pallets even more essential.
“We don’t need to arrest people because they don’t want help,” King said. “They do want help. They just need some autonomy in choosing the right help.”
King has also worked on updating the pallets to accommodate specific weather conditions. She says now, the pallets can sustain 170 mph winds and 200 mph gusts.
Keeping residents safe from the elements
Marrero says overheating is a constant issue for the homeless population in Florida, leading to many emergency health visits.
“A pallet like this gets them from out of the elements, and it can actually help and benefit their health,” Marrero said. “So you can get healthier in something like this, versus just being out in the street.”
And if the pallets are not being used by the region’s homeless population, King said they can also be used for people who have undergone natural disasters like hurricanes.
“We can reach functional zero [for the homeless population], then these units can be used for climate events,” King said.
Marrero says Tampa HOPE is aiming to have another 90 units added to the campus by the middle of next year, which will go along with another building being constructed that will have showers, laundry facilities, a kitchen, and even a barber shop.
“This is something where they can take ownership of it, and it gives them something to put in their tool belt moving forward,” Marrero said. “So just taking ownership of something, I think, gives them a leg up.”
For Renderer, she says she wants to rent a farm, and have a couple animals of her own.
The pallet she’s living in is the first step toward that goal.
“If you put your mind to it,” Renderer said. “It's not just the building. You gotta want to get out. You’ve gotta want it.”
