Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Pastor Al Robinson of Spirit of Truth Urban Ministry has partnered with Brooks Anderson of TimberHut Cabins to design and build a community of 14 tiny, scientific homes in Buffalo to help women overcome their drug and alcohol addictions.
"The cool thing is that you don't need huge buildings, you don't need huge swaths of acres in order to get this done," said Pastor Robinson. "We have discovered that between 160 square feet and 320 square feet, a minimalist, neural, environment is the most poignant in helping someone recover from addiction, so we're going in the tiny home route. We're building sober living, tiny homes."
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), approximately 90% of individuals who have struggled with alcohol addiction will experience at least one relapse during their lifetime.
Pastor Robinson describes a very scientific approach to home design and community building that is aimed to turn those relapse rates on their head by incorporating architectural designs and technology that promote natural healing and recovery.
"We're building little communities where women can socialize with one another, strengthen one another," described the pastor. "Certain colors in lighting, certain scents, infrared saunas, cold plunge technology, all these things when built as a neural environment will help drop the recidivism rate drastically of women going back to using drugs.”
Anderson and Robinson are using their own respective experiences with addiction as a catalyst to help others.
“I had a chance to talk with people in my own community that have had addiction and my mother died of something called hydromorphone. She overdosed and because of complications with her addiction, she had died. So that of course brought great disdain for people dying from addiction that. That one hurt, that's my mother, she died as a young woman, 58 years of age. And I won't let that happen to anyone else, I just won't.”
Currently, the tiny home team has accrued grant funding through Erie County and generous local donors to supply this neighborhood with five tiny homes. Robinson says they will need between $300,000 - $400,000 more to construct the full, first community. Brooks Anderson of TimberHut says they have discussed plans to potentially raffle or auction off other tiny homes built by TimberHut to raise more funding for the projects.
“We're going to build this, we're going to make this happen and we're going to do it in the City of Buffalo. Where we'd like it to be is by Central Terminal, all that property around Central Terminal that's vacant. We're in negotiations with the City of Buffalo right now, and I am excited for what is about to happen,” said Pastor Robinson.
The pastor is confident that the first sober living community will be up and running by the Summer of 2024, with first homes being built before the first quarter of 2024.
The pastor says the community idea stretches beyond the City of Buffalo.
“Another site will be in Dunkirk and we have plans for Jamestown as well. We want to kind of do the entire western grid in New York, give people some freedom.”
The sober living units will initially be set up as a village on property owned by the Rebecca Rose Recovery Centers of Western New York in Lovejoy, named after the pastor's late mother.
The pastor also discussed events and features within the community as well as security that will be implemented by working with the Buffalo Police. Hear the full 13-minute extended interview in the player above.