Beloved Community Village

I've been intrigued by tiny houses over the past few years for a whole host of reasons. I like the simplicity to them. I'm interested in the low costs, accessibility, and portability these simple structures provide. They have the ability to solve some of our greatest housing issues from affordability to disaster relief shelters. 

Yesterday, a friend of mine and I were chatting about tiny houses and she told me about the Beloved Community Village, Denver's first Tiny House community specifically designed to help the homeless. The community is a collaboration with Colorado Village Collaborative and to my understanding is all partner funded and volunteer built. The community will have 11 tiny houses and accommodate up to 22 people. It will start as a 180 day pilot program and then the tiny houses are planned to be moved to another site. Currently, the temporary zoning approved for the project only allows for the tiny houses to be in one location for up to six months. 

The houses are estimated to cost between $2500-5000 based on two other tiny house communities in the country per the Beloved Community Village's website. The website references Dignity Village in Oregon, which houses up to 60 people, as a model the Denver tiny house community has been following.  

Its estimated by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative's Point in Time Survey that there is nearly 6,000 homeless each night in Denver. The mission of the Beloved Community Village is to provide housing for homeless, create community, and self-governance. The goal is to have up to five of theses communities throughout Denver by next summer, according to Cole Chandler, a stakeholder in the project.

After checking out the tiny house community, currently being installed at 38th & Walnut in RiNo, I wanted to write a brief post, share some photos and applaud all the people and organizations that have come together to create this community. The whole cost of the program is about $130K. If you are interested in donating, learning more and getting involved with the Beloved Community Village, check out its website. 

JC

Check out my website blog post for full gallery. jcbuck.com