Texas Tiny Home News
Tough Market for Affordable Housing Shouldn’t Mean We Give Up On It Dec. 5th, 2019
The best opportunity to expand the affordable inventory without turning the place upside down, Herriges suggests, is in the existing residential neighborhoods, not with huge block-busting buildings but with housing in the middle range — duplexes, maybe four-plexes or accessory dwelling units, called ADUs, which we are never to call mother-in-law houses (maybe for fear that’s what they might become).
Article Source Dallas Observer
SPECIAL REPORT: How close is Corpus Christi to a homeless solution? Nov. 27th, 2019
“We’ve looked at housing solutions including tiny homes, we’ve looked at work programs and creative strategies for finding employment for individuals who are homeless,” said Sarah Scott, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Public Administration at Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
In the last two years, Scott’s graduate students have worked with the city on the homelessness issue. She believes the city needs more information before it can find a solution.
Tweaks to Austin land code draft protect against displacement, encourage projects with more units Nov. 26th, 2019
AUSTIN (KXAN) — City of Austin staff have compiled their recommendations for how city council overhaul’s Austin’s land development code. A city spokesperson explained that staff finalized their updated guidance for city leaders on Monday night.
The code defines the rules for what and where you can build in the city. It has not had a major overhaul in three decades. This current process is the city’s latest attempt to overhaul the code.
Austin’s City Council has the final decision on the approval of the land development code changes. This staff report means that the council has all of the major guidance they will use to guide their decisions about the code rewrite in early December. Council will use these recommendations along with a November Planning Commission report to guide their discussion of what changes to approve.
The October 4 code draft calls for increasing the maximum FAR in “missing middle” zones. But after testing and community feedback, staff reigned those increases back a bit, recommending that the city only allow increased FAR in missing middle zones to projects with three or more units. This is to discourage the construction of larger one and two-unit structures.
Council has directed staff to incentivize more accessory dwelling units (ADU’s or granny flats), duplexes, townhomes, and small multiplexes in order to increase the housing supply throughout the city.
Humble ISD honors military with Veteran’s Day celebrations Nov. 12th, 2019
Humble ISD students honored military members with celebrations on Veteran’s Day.
Andrade was one of the architecture students led Humble ISD’s “Students Helping Veterans: Big Heroes, Tiny Homes,” and designed the tiny house presented at the celebration. After her speech, a group of veterans were led by the ROTC and band down the main hallway and out to the tiny house made for a homeless veteran.
Council Approves Zoning for Campus to House Homeless Seniors Nov 10th, 2019
San Antonio City Council approved a zoning change Thursday that will allow the Housing First Community Coalition to establish a 17-acre campus that will provide housing and support services for older homeless people.
The now-vacant property in the city’s East Side near Loop 410 will host RVs, tiny homes, and small apartments that will be added, likely in phases, over the next few years, coalition leaders have said.
The San Antonio office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is working with the coalition to provide $5 million in low-interest loans toward the estimated $8 million cost of the campus. Plauche said fundraising efforts would kick off after the zoning approval.
Community Inn offers affordable Austin lodging with heart Nov. 1st, 2019
Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a nonprofit organization that began delivering meals to people living on Austin streets and greenbelts 21 years ago, opened the Community First Village in late 2015. The village provides permanent, affordable housing — and just as importantly, a sense of dignity and a cozy sense of belonging — to people struggling to get a foothold. About 180 formerly homeless individuals currently rent RVs and tiny homes there, and construction has begun on an expansion that will add 300 more units.
Article Source Houston Chronicle
West Texas Film festival to feature tiny home documentary Oct. 29th, 2019
In its fourth year, the West Texas Film Festival will screen some films and discussions that are getting a lot of buzz.
Dates are Nov. 21 through Nov. 23 with the opening gala set for 6 p.m. at the Ellen Noël Art Museum. Harlan Whatley, director of the festival, said that event will feature a screening of the documentary “Finding Home in Boomtown,” directed by Matt Maxwell of Midland.
“He followed this family around for two years who decided to give up their solid upper-middle class lifestyle,” to create a tiny home village for homeless people, Whatley said
“It’s like a calling for them through their church,” he said.
Austin’s homeless crisis is so dire, a nonprofit built an $18 million tiny home village to get the chronically homeless Oct. 10th, 2019
- On the east side of Austin, Texas, 180 formerly homeless residents live in 200-square-foot tiny homes at Community First Village.
- They pay rent that averages about $300 a month, go to work thanks to on-site employment opportunities, and feed off of a 2-acre farm.
- The village is the brainchild of founder Alan Graham, who spent years serving the city’s homeless before pooling $18 million in privately-donated funds to construct Community First in 2015.
Article Source Business Insider
Immigrants and the homeless deserve dignity, speakers insist Sept. 21st, 2019
SAN ANTONIO—Immigrants, asylum-seekers and homeless people who suffer from disabling mental illness or addiction all deserve to be treated with dignity, speakers told the No Need Among You Conference.
Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley the past 12 years, described the challenge of responding to immigrant families and asylum-seekers who are fleeing violence in their homelands.
Article Source Baptist Standard
$1.6 million donation helps local nonprofit helping people who are formerly homeless Sept. 13th, 2019
TRAVIS COUNTY (KXAN) -— Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a nonprofit that operates Community First! Village in east Austin received a $1.6 million donation to build its new “Community Works Entrepreneur Hub.”
Community First! Village is home to 182 people who used to be homeless. The nonprofit rents out tiny homes at an affordable rate, but they take it one step further and provide services on-site, as well as job opportunities.
They call them “micro-enterprise opportunities,” and the jobs range from gardening, art and blacksmithing, to car care and screen printing.
“Being homeless before in my life, I know what it’s like to be without a place to live,” DeJoria said. He’s a co-founder of hair care company Paul Mitchell, which he said he started with $700.
Nonprofit buys land to build tiny homes for the homeless Sept. 4th, 2019
Tiny Hope Village aims to ensure those enduring chronic homelessness in the Bryan/College Station area have homes of their own.
As an organization providing ministry for 12 years, the nonprofit is now under contract to buy a 7-acre plot of land in Hearne, with the intention of building over 20 homes for those in need.
Article Source Central Texas News Now
These Austin Tiny Homes Could House 40% of the City’s Chronically Homeless Population August 26th, 2019
Extraordinary is a perfect word to describe the problem he’s devoted his life to solving: homelessness in the United States. For the last 14 years, Graham and his nonprofit Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF) have worked to build Community First Village, a 27-acre development just outside Austin’s city limits made up of eclectic tiny homes, RVs and tricked-out tents.
Texas town Kirbyville completes first tiny house in homeless village August 13th, 2019
The Southeast Texas Homeless Coalition has started the first phase in a project to build tiny houses for homeless veterans in Jasper and surrounding counties.
New Solution To Stave Off Homelessness Stopped By Permit Problem July 18th, 2019
A new solution to the homeless and drug addiction problems in San Antonio showing promise, but a tiny home community could be postponed or even put to an end.
Pastor Jimmy Robles used his own inspiration, experience, and sheer determination to create a solution to some of the biggest problems on San Antonio’s west side.
Article Source July 18th, 2019
Several obstacles greet area owners of tiny homes July 15th, 2019
The tiny-home trend has taken off, but New Braunfels has proven to be a difficult place to live for tiny-home owners.
Legacy Village- building a legacy July 15th, 2019
Legacy Village, operated by the nonprofit Brown County Home Solutions (BCHS), is a community that will eventually consist of 16 “tiny homes” — with three completed so far and a fourth nearing completion — and is intended to help the homeless.
Article Source Brownwood Bulletin
Keller ISD teacher, students converting bus into home on wheels July 12th, 2019
A Keller ISD teacher and group of students are braving Texas summer temperatures as they convert an old school bus into a home on wheels.
Since the beginning of June, Matt Quattlebaum and 10-20 students have been meeting twice a week to work on what the group calls the “skoolie.” Their aim is to convert the bus into an RV-like living space.
Article Source Community Impact
Thousands of Plano homes now eligible to add backyard cottage April 19th, 2019
Plano planners have known for years they would need to get creative to address the housing needs of an increasingly diverse and aging population.
The growth in supply of single-family homes in Plano has been slowing for years. Meanwhile, some of the city’s older residents appear to be aging in place, city officials say. To ensure there are more housing options for some of the city’s underserved populations, the city has turned to accessory dwelling units, or backyard cottages, as a potential solution.
Plano City Council approved an ordinance change Feb. 25 that would allow thousands more single-family property owners to construct backyard cottages on their lots. Since the adoption of the ordinance change, city staff has seen a surge of early interest, Plano Planning Director Christina Day said.
Article Source Community Impact
Tiny house village breaks ground in Lake Dallas Feb 28th, 2019
Tiny house advocate B.A. Norrgard at the new tiny house village groundbreaking.The project is being developed by Terry Lantrip, who’s spearheaded many other iconic projects in the community, along with the help of Beth Ann “B.A.” Norrgard, a Garland-based tiny house owner and nationally known tiny house advocate.
How the Tiny House Movement is Saving the Town of Spur, Texas January 30th, 2019
Everything You Need to Know About Dallas’ New ‘Granny Flat’ Ordinance June 28th, 2018
These so-called “Granny flats” have the potential to help the city address its affordability problem, particularly in neighborhoods where middle-income housing is being demolished to make way for high-priced apartments.