These developments put a new spin on the “housing first” philosophy that prevails among California homeless programs. As a result, villages inspired by Austin now are popping up in California. It’s the same tour he and his team have given to multiple California officials and service providers, all of whom came looking for new answers to the Golden State’s dire homelessness crisis. We got over 300 fruit and nut-bearing trees growing all over the property. “Right up underneath that windmill is where we have the farmer’s market every Saturday morning,” says village founder Alan Graham, CEO of nonprofit Mobile Loaves & Fishes, pointing from a golf cart as he gives a tour of the village. If you want a souvenir, there’s even a gift shop of sorts – a convenience store that sells hats, infant onesies and other swag branded with the community’s slogan: “Goodness.” Alan Graham, founder, President and CEO of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, and Community First! Village, at his desk in Austin, Texas on May 12, 2023. The ashes of 36 former residents are interred in a columbarium on the property. Quiet, winding roads lead past a pond stocked with catfish, a hydroponic vegetable garden and a yurt visitors can rent on Airbnb. Nestled amongst picturesque tiny houses and RVs – home to about 350 formerly unhoused people – are a ceramics studio, an outdoor movie theater and a game room. They like what they see, but can they replicate the community it provides?įor more stories on inequality in California, sign up for Inequality Insights, a weekly must-read on one of California's most pressing issues.Īt first glance, Community First! Village looks more like an art commune or even a high-end summer camp than what it really is: Austin’s formidable, 51-acre solution to the homelessness crisis. California cities looking for homeless solutions are visiting a quirky tiny home village in Austin, Texas.
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