The latest inspired application of the oh-so-versatile micro home comes by way of Austin Texas, where an innovative community for the homeless is set to open in a few months. When it does, Community First Village will house about 200 of Austin's less fortunate in a collection of cottages, mobile homes, and canvas tents, all spread out over a 27-acre plot. Monthly rent will range from about $90 to $375, depending on the size of the home—the charmer pictured above asks for $200—and all of them come equipped with furniture built by folks who've recently become homeless.
Given how often community backlash impedes similar efforts, it comes as a bit of a surprise that neighbors seem largely supportive of the project. "We haven't converted everybody," founder Alan Graham told Austin's KUT, "but when people come out here they go, 'Oh!' They see a chapel; they see medical and vocational services on site, and they learn that residents will not live there for free; they'll pay a monthly rent." In the decade or so it's taken for the project to come to fruition, this holistic approach to community—which also includes a three-acre garden and an outdoor theater—has won over enough supporters to get the entire thing paid for by private donations.
Another selling point, on the off-chance the story didn't have you at "microhome": as Graham points out, getting hundreds of Austinites back on their feet could save the taxpayers of Central Texas millions. How's that for putting community first?
· Here's What Austin's Newest Housing For the Chronically Homeless Looks Like [KUT via Buzzfeed]
· All micro homes coverage [Curbed National]
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