A Tiny Home for Good fights homelessness in Syracuse, one small house at a time

Editor’s note: This story is an extension of the work of Central Current contributors Mike Greenlar and Michelle Gabel. Greenlar and Gabel captured Syracuse’s housing crisis in photos for about a year. The photos were shown at an exhibit at ArtRage Gallery earlier this year and have been published by Central Current.

Jill Ceilly welcomes visitors to her tiny home on Rich Street in Syracuse with Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies and a choice of freshly brewed coffee, homemade iced tea or ginger ale. It’s a simple gesture, but one she treasures after living at the Rescue Mission shelter for many months following a mental health breakdown in 2022.

“It takes a while for it to sink in that this is real,” Ceilly, 57, said of the 380-square-foot home she rents from A Tiny Home for Good for $310 a month, covered by her disability benefits.

“I can wake up in the morning and make myself a cup of coffee. I don’t have to carry all my stuff around in a bag. I remember the first couple nights after I moved in, it felt too quiet. At the Mission it was always so loud.”

Ceilly is among 44 people who have left homelessness behind for safe, affordable, permanent homes thanks to A Tiny Home for Good, a nonprofit that’s working to end homelessness in Syracuse. The nonprofit builds small rental units and creates a community that cares for tenants who are overcoming trauma, addiction, mental illness or other issues that left them without housing.

Now in its 11^th year, A Tiny Home is ascending. The nonprofit faced opposition and backlash when founder Andrew Lunetta sought to build the first two homes in 2014. Today, A Tiny Home is a proven model that’s gaining support, grants and corporate sponsorships for its mission to provide long-term homes for our community’s most vulnerable members.

At the Tiny Home office on South Avenue, Andrew Lunetta, the executive director, and Dolphus Johnson, a tenant who works part time as a janitor for the organization, typically meet for coffee before work one or two mornings a week. Dolphus was ATHFG’s first tenant in 2016. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

“At A Tiny Home, we own our properties and we do not exist to make money off our tenants,” Lunetta says. “We just want to do what’s necessary to overcome homelessness in the long term.”

Besides modeling how homelessness can be addressed in a city like Syracuse, A Tiny Home for Good also shows how ordinary people like Lunetta and his wife, Katie Weaver, can make a huge difference by fearlessly tackling a community-wide problem.

Lunetta founded A Tiny Home in 2014 at age 24. He spent eight years working in Syracuse homeless shelters while earning a bachelor’s degree from LeMoyne College and a master’s from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

He said he got tired of seeing the same people, mostly men, leave the shelters for drug or alcohol rehab, mental health treatment or low-income housing only to end up back on the streets for lack of community, advocacy or moral support.

“Our goal that the people we assist will never be back in the shelter system again is something we hold dear,” Lunetta says.

Andrew Lunetta works on a home renovation on Richmond Avenue in January. Lunetta founded the nonprofit A Tiny Home for Good in 2014, driven by his experience working at local homeless shelters. Donors and community partners, along with volunteers, make the homes possible and affordable for the nonprofit’s tenants and staff. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

His initial efforts to build on or renovate donated properties were rebuffed by neighbors and the city for two years before A Tiny Home was able to build its first two homes on Rose Avenue. “After knocking on the doors of dozens of privately owned vacant lots, we eventually purchased from private owners for market rate,” he said.

A Tiny Home has since worked with the Greater Syracuse Land Bank to acquire tax-delinquent properties and put them back on the tax rolls by building and maintaining attractive, affordable housing in otherwise blighted areas.

The organization also strives to be “the most sympathetic landlord in Syracuse,” Weaver says, keeping in touch with and assisting tenants with any kind of setback, including bartering with them for chores in lieu of rent or putting rent on hold during a hospital stay or inpatient treatment.

Weaver and Lunetta met in a Leadership Greater Syracuse class in 2019 and got married in 2021. She left a career in marketing to become A Tiny Home’s development director, helping secure state, county, foundation, and corporate grants to fund new construction and increase staff.

Early last year, A Tiny Home hired caseworker Lori Clapper, a former substance abuse counselor who assists tenants with everything from applying for disability to getting to medical appointments. A Tiny Home also employs three of its tenants as custodial or maintenance staff.

Four Rich Street homes designed by University of Buffalo senior architecture students for A Tiny Home for Good, offer a spacious backyard where neighbors and friends gather for cookouts. These units, designed and built in 2022-23, feature solar panels, energy efficient appliances and eco-friendly building materials. The Greater Syracuse Land Bank and National Grid were partners. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

So far A Tiny Home has built 37 homes that currently house 44 people and have beautified vacant lots or replaced abandoned, tax-delinquent housing in 12 city neighborhoods. The scattered-site model is “intentional,” Weaver says, “because we want our tenants to be part of the community.”

Thanks to its support services, A Tiny Home has a 90% retention rate for its tenants, she said.

Jeanette Kilmartin greets the morning with meditation in the front yard of her West Matson Avenue two-unit home built by A Tiny Home for Good. Jeanette, who moved here in 2019, said, “When I walked in these doors, I was just flabbergasted to be given such a beautiful gift. I didn’t realize that before, I’ve only lived in houses. I never lived in a home. And this is my home.” Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

Jeanette Kilmartin tends to her flowers outside her West Matson Avenue home, built by A Tiny Home for Good. Jeanette, who faced homelessness when her treatment program for opioid addiction came to an end, moved here in 2019. Jeanette cites the ongoing support by A Tiny Home staff, including social worker Lori Clapper, who checks in with tenants, organizes weekly walks and monthly social gatherings. “When you’re in recovery, you have to stay busy,” Jeanette said. “The way A Tiny Home is set up, they don’t just give you a roof over your head, they work with the whole person. They make sure you’re OK, have food. If you need to go to the doctor, they’ll get you to the doctor. They make it possible to thrive. They give you a backbone.” Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

In 2023, A Tiny Home completed four new homes – including Ceilly’s – with $250,000 in funding from National Grid. This year they’re using $200,000 through Sen. Rachel May’s office to rehab a two family house adjacent to their shop as temporary housing for families whose children have been affected by lead in their permanent homes. Families will stay in the home for three to six weeks while their homes are being remediated. A Tiny Home has six new units currently under construction including the lead abatement house.

Lunetta said A Tiny Home’s achievements “are a small success given the scope of Syracuse’s homeless problem, but it’s permanent.”

“We also recognize that a person facing homelessness is often someone who doesn’t have access to the right medication or hasn’t been given the opportunity to get back on their feet after a downfall,” he said.

They have more work ahead, considering Syracuse’s most recent census count found about 1,200 people – including more than 365 families – lack housing as of January, according to estimates by the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Central New York.

But A Tiny Home has shown what’s possible on a shoestring budget of $875,000 a year (not including construction costs) with lots of volunteer help and donated funding. That has led to more support as well as interest from other communities across the country looking to replicate its model.

A Tiny Home For Good tenants and staff gather for a walk and picnic at Green Lakes State Park March 28. In the foreground is tenant Jill Ceilly, writing in her journal, and her dog, Jack. Caseworker Lori Clapper organizes monthly social events like this one, weekly neighborhood walks, and craft sessions at the ATHFG office.. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

Caseworker Lori Clapper said A Tiny Home works to change the environment available for people coming out of debilitating conditions, including providing a supportive community whose members gather for weekly walks, social events and craft sessions.

“It’s very difficult to succeed if you’re placed in an apartment complex where there’s 12 apartments and 11 are selling drugs,” she said. “I just love the concept of giving people a home of their own and a connection to community.”

Weaver said A Tiny Home hopes to continue collaborating with the city, county and community agencies to provide safe, affordable housing for everyone who needs it in Syracuse.

Aniya Locorini and her young children, Eli’Onna Brown and Eddie Brown V, attend a ribbon cutting ceremony August 26, 2024, cheered on by ATHFG staff. Executive Director Andrew Lunetta is in the background at middle left, and Development Director Katie Weaver is at far right. Project manager Lydia Montgomery is in the foreground middle. The house was renovated by a Tiny Home for Good next to their office on South Avenue in Syracuse, NY. Before moving into their new home, the family lived at Chadwick Residence for women at risk and their children. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

Eli’Onna Brown, then 5, (now 6) explores her family’s new home after she, her mom, Anyia Locorini, and her brother, Eddie Brown V, attend a ribbon cutting ceremony August 26, 2024. The house was renovated by a Tiny Home for Good next to their office on South Avenue in Syracuse, NY. More than half of the unhoused individuals in the region are a part of a family without a home, according to the Housing and Homeless Coalition of CNY. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

“We are talking about some 1,500 people, which is a big number, but it’s a manageable number in my mind,” she said. “It should be possible for us to be a community that ends homelessness.”

Meet the residents

The stories of A Tiny Home’s tenants illustrate some of the causes of homelessness and how addressing them can save people’s lives by doing more than just putting roofs over their heads.

Dolphus

After living in shelters, temporary housing and on the street for more than a decade, U.S. Army veteran Dolphus Johnson became the first A Tiny Home for Good tenant in 2016. He has a job with the nonprofit as their janitor and is active in the community.

“I love my home,” Johnson says. “I never had a stable home, but when I got up in here, it was a place of my own … it made me feel appreciated. It gave me stability.”

He became friends with A Tiny Home for Good founder Andrew Lunetta through the Brady Faith Center’s Pedal to Possibilities, a bike riding group geared toward people facing homelessness that Andrew created in 2011. Johnson received a bike from the program and still rides with the group today.

At the Tiny Home office on South Avenue, Johnson and Lunetta typically meet for coffee before work one or two mornings a week. “Andrew says I brighten up his day,” Johnson said.

U.S. Army veteran Dolphus Johnson became the first A Tiny Home for Good tenant in 2016 after living in shelters, temporary housing and on the street for more than a decade. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

Johnson moved into the first unit A Tiny Home for Good built on Rose Avenue. He now lives in a 300-square-foot home on Bellevue Avenue, one of six units built there in 2018. His passions include biking, gardening, spending time with positive friends and watching old TV shows.

Reggie

Reggie Manning, 54, grew up in Newark, New Jersey, becoming a drug dealer by age 14. Decades of addiction followed, leading to gunshot wounds, prison time, homelessness and many failed attempts at recovery, he said.

In 2005 he got on a bus to Syracuse to take advantage of a Salvation Army treatment program. He later also became a client of Helio Health, but each time he completed 30 or 60 days of rehab, he was placed in apartments owned by some of the worst slumlords in Syracuse, amid people and conditions that would fuel his next relapse.

The last place he lived before A Tiny Home was The Vincent Apartments, the formerly Green National-owned building that was shut down by the city as “unfit” for housing in December. He said Helio pays a portion of the rent for his tiny home on Rich Street and he pays $240 a month out of his disability benefits.

Reggie Manning’s home, one of four Rich Street tiny homes designed by University of Buffalo architecture students for ATHFG, features high ceilings and a loft. Reggie’s bedroom is shown here. He shares his home with his son, Reggie Jr., 12, and their cat, Peanut. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

Manning reached four years of sobriety in March and credits A Tiny Home for making it possible for him to gain custody of his son, Reggie Jr., now 12. Father and son also participate in another Andrew Lunetta creation, Pedals 2 Possibilities, which leads group bike rides and supplies bicycles to assist people with transportation as well as community.

Last summer, Reggie Manning moved into one of four Rich Street units designed by University of Buffalo senior architecture students for A Tiny Home for Good. Reggie grew up on the streets of Newark, NJ, and struggled with addiction for decades, but he celebrated his fourth anniversary of sobriety on March 10. He shares his home with his son, Reggie Jr., 12, and their cat, Peanut. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

“I’m comfortable,” Manning said. “My main goal is taking care of my son and living for today.”

Eddie

Eddie Piazza, 72, spent decades in the state prison system for a crime he says he did not commit. By the time he was released, he had been suffering from early onset Parkinson’s Disease for years and had no place to go besides temporary stays with friends or the shelter system.

He has told the story of how Lunetta met him at Catholic Charities in 2019 and offered him a tiny home of his own several times, but he still chokes up.

Eddie Piazza, a U.S. Navy veterane and a former board member of A Tiny Home for Good, is shown in front of his Bellevue Avenue unit, which features solar panels. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

“Andrew didn’t pull any punches,” Eddie said. “He looked at me straight in the face and said, ‘How would you like a house?’ I said, ‘A house? How am I going to afford a house?’ And he goes, ‘Would $300 rent be too much?’ And at about that time, I’m sliding underneath the table. I’m like, gasping. This guy’s offering me a new house. He emphasized new. And I just about passed out…tears were running down my face and everything else. And to this day, Andrew’s been my saint…he saved my life.”

Eddie Piazza, a U.S. Navy veteran and former board member of A Tiny Home for Good, finds solace in his 300-square-foot home, one of six tiny homes nestled on Bellevue Avenue. Built in 2018, this home became his refuge on February 3, 2019, when he faced homelessness. Eddie was left with nothing following his release from the New York State prison system. He served more than two decades for a crime he vehemently denies he committed. He returned to Syracuse on New Year’s Eve 2018 and checked into a shelter. “The Rescue Mission told me it was full, so I went to the other shelter,” he said. “If you’ve got any property, you put it in a pillowcase and sleep on it, which is what I ended up doing,” he said. A month later on January 30, Eddie visited Catholic Charities seeking support and met Andrew Lunetta., who offered him a tiny home of his own. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

Jill

Jill Ceilly fell into homelessness after years of working multiple jobs at once as a single mom suffering from undiagnosed ADHD and mental illness, she said. She traveled around the country as a showgirl and detailed yachts in Key West, among many other gigs.

Over the years she lost possessions, boyfriends and family, and in 2022, she had a breakdown that led to many months in and out of psychiatric hospitals and homeless shelters, she said.

In 2023 a staffer at the Samaritan Center, where Ceilly went for meals, introduced her to Lunetta. They helped her apply for disability benefits and the tiny home on Rich Street. Her unit, painted sky blue with a beach theme, immediately reminded her of a yacht. She lives there with her little dog, Jack, who she adopted about 18 months ago.

Jill Ceilly walks her dog, Jack, in a park across the street from her Rich Street home. The small units shown behind Ceilly were designed by senior architecture students at the University of Buffalo for A Tiny Home for Good. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

Ceilly said she is grateful every day for the blessing of her home. Now she is able to pay it forward by donating clothing to people less fortunate than herself and sending gifts to a Native American school in Montana.

At A Tiny Home party for tenants, volunteers and funders, Ceilly was able to meet Gwen Sanders of National Grid, who arranged for the company to sponsor the Rich Street units.

Ceilly walked up to Sanders, took her hand and looked into her eyes. “If it wasn’t for you,” she said, “I wouldn’t have a home.”