Austin Community First! Village
Austin Community First! Village
A Tiny Home Village Outside Austin, TX
Overview
The Community First Village is a 225-resident tiny home village and RV park located just outside Austin, Texas city limits that opened in 2015 to house formerly homeless residents.
Context:
- 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 (source).
- Over 7,000 individuals experienced homelessness in 2018. The 2019 Point in Time Count showed that there were 2,255 individuals experiencing homelessness in Travis County on a single day (source).
Mission: Provide a community-first approach — a spinoff of the housing-first term— to create a sense of community among formerly homeless residents.
Site
Owner: The 27-acre site was purchased by Mobile Loaves & Fishes.
Previous Use: Vacant ranch land.
Use Arrangement: Fee simple ownership by the operating nonprofit. The homes are then leased to the residents at a rate of $225-$500/month.
Site Selection Criteria Considerations: Located on the outskirts of Austin, just beyond city limits but still accessible to municipal utilities – sewer, water, electrical.
Funding
Upfront Development* | $18 million(including land, site work, & housing units) | 100% philanthropic donations, no government funding. Some of the tiny homes were donated. |
Cost Per Bed* | $80k | 225 beds in total |
Operating Costs* | $4.8 million/year | To cover MLF management and operating expenses, 75% of funding comes from philanthropy, 25% comes from the on-site residents paying rent ($225-$500/home/month)Third-party case management services (detail in Operations) are not funded by MLF, outside scope of operating budget |
Cost Per Bed* | $21k/year | $58/bed/night |
*approximations
Development
Operations
Lead Operator:
Operator | Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF), a Christian nonprofit organization, is a social outreach ministry that has been empowering communities into a lifestyle of service with the homeless since 1998.https://mlf.org/ | |
Agreement | MLF owns the land and operates all on-site facilities. | |
Staffing |
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Services Provided | MLF provides wraparound services, an outdoor movie theater, community garden and market, and a medical facility where health screenings are offered. The assistance here includes “micro-enterprise opportunities,” meaning jobs on site in gardening, woodworking, car care and more.County provides 10 care staff. | |
Cost |
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Operating Expenses |
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Press
https://www.businessinsider.com/austin-homeless-tiny-homes-village-community-first-photos-2019-10
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/tiny-houses/#austin