Pallet Shelter Village

The City of Lawrence is continuing to make progress toward establishing a Pallet Shelter Village (PSV). The PSV will serve as an additional City-provided emergency shelter for Lawrence and Douglas County.  

To this end, the Pallet Shelter Village will provide up to 50 private cabins in a supportive village setting, including wrap-around services for people experiencing homelessness. The Pallet Shelter Village model is a pathway to permanent housing that provides a transition for people experiencing homelessness. 

The City plans to locate the site at 256 N. Michigan St. Staff are moving forward with site analysis, planning, and necessary demolition work.  

While Pallet does provide shelter materials and consulting services, the management of the site including safety and day-to-day operation will be handled by a third-party vendor. City staff solicited a request for proposals (RFP) for a Pallet Shelter Village operations contractor in May-June 2023 but received no bids. The City will administer another RFP following further collaboration with Pallet and outreach to potential operators.  

As a result of the challenges in securing an operations contractor, the opening of the Pallet Shelter Village has been delayed. Once the City secures an operator, an updated timeline for opening of PSV will be provided to the community. 

Background on Pallet

Pallet’s model has been successful in response to emergency housing needs in cities throughout the U.S. To date, Pallet has built over 100 shelter communities in 60+ cities in 18 states while working with over 70 unique homeless service providers. In addition to the panelized shelters, which include heating and cooling and are integrated in the village setting with full restrooms, (including flushing toilets and showers) laundry, and facilities for community gathering and support service offices, Pallet also provides individualized consultation to help establish the village and assist in program development and operations. 

Learn more with the The Pallet Village Model video.

For more information about Pallet, we encourage you to visit their website: palletshelter.com

Frequently Asked Questions