At its most simple, a house provides younger folks security, safety and neighborhood.
Although nonetheless on the drafting board, one future dwelling for youth is being praised for these qualities — and the work that’s gone into designing it.
Vecindad is Spanish for neighborhood and it’s the title given to a mission that the San Antonio Housing Belief has developed with the nonprofit Thrive Youth Middle to create transitional supportive housing for homeless LGBTQ+ youth.
At its annual awards occasion in July, the San Antonio chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) acknowledged the Thrive Vecindad mission, and the structure and planning agency In a position Metropolis, with its 2026 Individuals + Place Award.
Thrive Vecindad acquired the award within the unbuilt mission class, noting the mission’s community-driven imaginative and prescient and the engagement course of that allowed future residents and neighborhood companions to assist form its design.
The middle is deliberate as a group of 5 constructions within the 1600 block of Buena Vista Road within the Prospect Hill neighborhood on San Antonio’s West Aspect.
Plans name for 2 present properties to be restored and repurposed into communal, tutorial and supportive areas. Three new buildings are additionally deliberate with 25 models of housing for younger adults ages 18 to 24 who’re experiencing homelessness.
Residents will be capable to spend three to 4 years there, studying to construct neighborhood and maintain themselves.
“That is really transitional housing, so it received’t be a shelter house since you’ll have to both work, go to highschool, or volunteer so many hours every week with a purpose to qualify to dwell there,” mentioned Justin Holley, govt director at Thrive.
Youth homelessness and LGBTQ+ youth homelessness is an epidemic, Holley mentioned.
“In the event you’re LGBTQ youth, you’ve gotten 120% extra likelihood of being homeless than your non-LGBTQ counterparts,” he mentioned. “Forty p.c of all youth dwelling on the streets at this time establish as LGBTQ.”
Thrive has been offering emergency shelter for homeless LGBTQ youth and others since 2015. At the moment, speedy rehousing providers are actually offered by Thrive by way of grants from the U.S. Division of Housing and City Growth, that are restricted to 12 to 24 months.
The nonprofit sought one thing extra, nevertheless it was a long-term purpose they didn’t count on to succeed in so quickly.
“We had been seeking to do one home, and we had utilized for a grant with the Housing Belief,” Holley mentioned. Then Government Director Pete Alanis mentioned to him, “Why are you considering so small?”
Final 12 months, when Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones created the Particular Housing Provide Job Pressure, the LGBTQ+ inhabitants was included.
“And it allowed us to suppose larger … and doubtlessly construct the primary of its type within the Southwest, a transitional supportive housing for LGBTQ youth,” Holley mentioned.
In 2025, the Housing Belief contracted with In a position Metropolis to provide you with a accomplice to develop the Buena Vista property, and the agency chosen Thrive from amongst six housing suppliers as the most effective match for the property.
Thrive then chosen a few of its housing and shelter shoppers to “allow them to dream” for six months about what they’d need most in a house, Holley mentioned.
Their goals — security, safety and neighborhood.
“These youth, as a result of quite a lot of them are operating away from unhealthy conditions or obtained kicked out, they wish to be round folks which can be like themselves as a result of they’ve by no means had that chance,” Holley mentioned.
They needed a patio the place they might sit and discuss with others, a kitchen to learn to cook dinner meals, inexperienced house. They needed stability — and a house.
In a position Metropolis guided these conversations and likewise met with the neighbors for his or her suggestions on the mission, going door-to-door in some instances to introduce themselves.
A set of award-winning designs was born of that suggestions.
But it surely wasn’t the end-product that caught the AIA jury’s consideration, mentioned Gabriel De Leon, mission supervisor at In a position Metropolis. They might see the trouble put into it.
“It was such a collaborative strategy to every part we did that we felt that the mission was very significant … for everybody,” De Leon mentioned. “This mission has the potential to affect quite a lot of lives in a optimistic method.”
In reality, the judges — three nationally acknowledged architects from Minneapolis, Tucson and Boston — referred to as it “an emotional mission with pragmatic ambition,” mentioned Torrey Carleton, govt director of AIA-SA.
“They had been rewarding the design course of and social intent, not simply the type of the constructing,” she mentioned.
Such an award carries weight, even from an area chapter, Carleton added, and provides a mission momentum because it goes out for funding.
Holley expects Vecindad’s price to return in about $6 million to $7 million, and be accomplished in late 2028 or early 2029.
The Housing Belief purchased the property from Prosper West and can lease it to Thrive by way of the event section. When the lease expires, Thrive plans to accumulate the property.
Whereas devoted to LGBTQ+ youth, the mission will function a “pocket communities” template for different distinct populations, from veterans to seniors and victims of home violence.
Thrive Vecindad additionally has been championed by District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, who serves on the Housing Belief board. Mayor Jones mentioned she was proud to see the mission obtain the AIA award as her workplace continues working to help efforts that broaden.
