SAN ANTONIO — A new community for the homeless is in the works in San Antonio. 

Chris Plauche with Catholic Works, the organization heading up the project, says there will be about 200 units, all 400-500 square feet, that will serve as permanent housing for elderly people who are experiencing homelessness. 

Towne Twin Village will allow applicants a sliding payment scale where residents will pay ,on average, about $200 a month in rent. 

While the community will be brand new, the land has had another use in the past. The 17-acre plot used to be home to a drive-in movie theater that closed in the late 1980’s. Councilwoman Jada Andrews-Sullivan remembers it well. 

“I remember as a little girl, coming here watching The Shrunken Woman, The Incredible Shrunken Woman. And to see what we are doing with this land right now. They’ll have hospice, they’ll have bereavement care, counseling, just so many services that speak to the needs of our most vulnerable,” said Andrews-Sullivan. 

The community will boast a chapel, an art room, a garden and a community center with a clinic. 

“We’re talking about housing people who have been chronically homeless. So, they haven’t had much choice. They go where the meals are, they sleep where they can, they’re hardly ever given choices,” said Plauche.