On an empty plot of land on Avenue I in Lancaster, Scott Ehrlich envisions much more than just another shelter for the homeless. By this time next year, Ehrlich, a founder and partner of InSite Development in Woodland Hills, wants to have an Italian-style village with both permanent and interim housing for the homeless as well as space for the social services they need to get back on their feet. The project also includes a manufacturing facility to provide them jobs. “I can’t wait for people to walk in and say, ‘I would live here,’” Ehrlich said. “That is the compliment I cannot wait to get.” While Ehrlich’s plans may sound idealistic, he has a track record of solid results in the Antelope Valley. InSite Development was instrumental in the transformation of downtown Lancaster into a destination spot with restaurants, shops and housing. He is close to breaking ground on a 105-room Marriott Residence Inn for the downtown area known as The Blvd. The real excitement for Ehrlich, however, comes from the homeless project, which was brought to him by Lancaster City Manager Mark Bozigian in a phone call at the end of October. “We want to start grading in February,” Ehrlich said. “That is unheard of. That is four months from the day I got the phone call.” Graduated living John Maceri, executive director of The People Concern, a Santa Monica nonprofit that works with the homeless and has partnered with InSite to provide the social services in Lancaster, said he has no doubt that Ehrlich will pull this project off. “We work with a lot of developers and can separate the wheat from the chaff pretty easily,” Maceri said. “He’s definitely not a guy who is just a talker. He likes to get things done, which I appreciate.” Initially, however, Ehrlich was not interested in doing the project. When Bozigian called with the proposal, Ehrlich told him no. He changed his mind when he was told that Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris only wanted to see Ehrlich do the project. “He knew to play to my ego,” Ehrlich quipped. According to an L.A. County homeless count done last year, there were 4,559 homeless people in the Antelope Valley. That is a 50 percent increase from the 3,038 homeless counted in 2016. A plan of graduated living arrangements is the right way to approach the homeless in that it can stabilize a person’s life to then address other issues, such as substance abuse or mental health, Parris said. Having their own bed in a place where they are treated with respect can lead to improving their lives, he added. “You have to develop a sense of community and that comes with stable living arrangements,” Parris noted. The project that Ehrlich has planned mimics an Italian village in that the buildings surround a courtyard. Central to the idea are what Ehrlich calls the four “townships,” each containing 13 one-bedroom apartments and 24 mini-homes of 120 square feet. The mini-homes are about the size of half of a shipping container and contain a bed, kitchen and bathroom. They would be interspersed with the one-bedroom units in each township. The interim housing would be in a 5,000-square-foot shelter. Rather than made up of cots in an open room, Ehrlich wants to have individual sleeping units that provide privacy. The permanent one-bedroom units would be for households making 30 percent or below of the area media income. Those units and the mini-homes could be occupied for however long the resident wants to stay. Elsewhere on the property are medical and mental health clinics, interim housing, an exercise room, cafeteria, pet kennel, barn, dog park and fruit trees. A 14,000-square-foot manufacturing building will provide jobs to build the low-cost mini-homes. Ehrlich would like to see a weekly farmer’s market on the property. It’s all part of Ehrlich’s goal of giving the homeless a sense of purpose and an environment where they feel safe. That in turn will get the residents of the Antelope Valley to look at the homeless differently, he believes. “The more we get involvement with the community the more they start treating them like people, the more these people have dignity,” Ehrlich said. Measure H funding While the interim and permanent housing on the Lancaster lot are a good start, even better is the concept of a therapeutic community with wraparound social services, Maceri said. “The opportunity to have social and recreational activities, having vocational opportunities on site and creating a therapeutic community I think is critically important,” he added. To finance the project, InSite has applied for $7 million in funds from Measure H, the voter-approved ballot initiative from November 2016 that will raise $355 million annually for homeless services in Los Angeles County. Ehrlich said that he was in talks with County Supervisor Kathryn Barger about supplemental financing, and will take Section 8 vouchers. In total, there will be some profit after all the expenses are paid. “It’s not a lot and never meant to be a lot, but it has to make money in order to sustain itself,” Ehrlich said. Parris was honest in his assessment that he did not know if this project will work as advertised but other places, including Europe, have had success with similar models. “Utah has done wonderful things with their homeless and part of this encompasses the Utah approach,” Parris said. In that state, the chronic homeless population – defined as living on the streets for more than a year or four times over a three-year period and having a disabling condition – was reduced by 91 percent between 2005 and 2015. The Housing First program got the chronic homeless under a roof and then addressed other problems. If Ehrlich is successful with his village model, Parris foresees that others may want to copy it as well. “The way he has it designed, if it works it is going to be a template,” Parris said.