A TINY home community has brought peace of mind to residents in a small town, but efforts to continue to build out the housing solution have stalled in partisanship.
Lilac Homes - a tiny home community in Kennewick, Washington - opened 16 homes to people in need in 2022.
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The Kennewick Housing Authority procured $3.8million to develop a tiny home community on an acre of land, according to the local CBS affiliate KEPRTV.
The housing authority aimed to provide shelter for historically marginalized communities in the neighborhood.
"We are going to be able to house individuals who we have targeted," Lona Hammer, a representative of the housing authority, told the station.
"That includes homeless veterans, homeless people with disabilities, and homeless families with children."
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TINY HOME SPECS
The homes all include full private kitchens and bathrooms.
There are three different models ranging from two-bedroom homes to studios.
Residents with children were scheduled to get into the larger homes.
Each resident must pay 30 percent of their adjusted gross monthly income for rent.
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The rentals don't have a lease end date, but part-time case managers are provided by the authority to aid in external home searches.
"We have had a couple of graduates who have moved on to traditional-sized housing with continued rental assistance, which is kind of our goal for those two bedroom units when folks have families," Hammer said to the Tri-City Herald.
"We want to get them moved in, stabilized for a year and then we hope, if they feel comfortable, they can move on to another more traditional-sized housing that has a little more room."
The finished community is filled with a garden for fresh produce and seasonal decor.
Some of the gardens are set up to be accessible for residents in wheelchairs.
Tom McGowan, the first person to move into the community and a war veteran, said the neighborhood has helped him.
"For the most part we’re a little community, we all watch out for each other. We’re kind of like a little family," he said to the publication.
"Being a war vet, it’s nice having people around. We look out for each other."
'TERRIBLE STIGMA'
McGowan said he moved into the tiny home community after his former apartment building changed management at the beginning of the pandemic.
"The houses were being moved off of the property and this was the only place I could get," he said.
The average rent for a sub-900 square foot apartment in the city is $1,385, according to Rent Cafe.
The publication stated that another company, Fortify Holdings, attempted to convert a building into micro-apartments.
The apartments weren't aimed at low-income home owners, but community members opposed the project.
Fortify Holdings backed out of the project after community member opposition.
"The stigma of being low income is a terrible stigma," McGowan said.
"When they put these places out and are worried about the type of people that live here, I’m the type of people that live here."
The U.S. Sun reports on other tiny home communities - here is a group of homes in the largest city in the US.
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Also, this community packs the amenities of the average home into its tiny homes.
