Joppa Visits Tiny Home Village in Austin, TX

Joe Stevens, Joppa cofounder, and Amy Hunold-Van Gundy, tiny home coordinator, traveled to Austin, Texas to tour and learn more about the Community First! Village.

The 27-acre master planned community was designed to be home to 237 chronically homeless residents through RVs, canvas sided tents and micro-homes. Twelve years in the making, the project showcases the best elements of a tiny home village.

Alan Graham, the CEO and visionary of the Community First! Village, anchored the design in the premise that “housing first” stopped short of a solution. According to Graham, it wasn’t enough to provide a roof over someone’s head; instead, they need to be in a community to overcome the barriers and challenges that made them homeless.

The design of the village provides micro-business opportunities for jobs such as a bed and breakfast, blacksmithing, gardening and more. The campus will have onsite medical care, food market, access to public transportation and even hospice services.

“This village provides the model to other communities to move past the discussion of the size of the structures and to the real issue of building community and support for our communities poorest citizens. And do it in a way which provides a hand up instead of hand out,” Hunold-Van Gundy said.

Graham does not require many rules for residents, mainly asking people to pay their rent and be a good citizen of the village.

The Joppa team is studying this model and others across the U.S. as they work toward a final design for a tiny home village in Des Moines.