Tiny Home Village in the Works to Fight Bozeman Homelessness
A new tiny home village is in the works in Bozeman to fill an “obvious gap” that currently exists for transitional housing in the city.
“This is tried and tested and seems to be very, very effective in other communities,” Robin Mayer, Special Events and Outreach Coordinator with the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) said.
Currently, there’s a very limited amount of transitional housing available for people to move from homelessness to permanent housing in Bozeman, according to Mayer. The Housing First Village would provide single-user tiny homes or shelters for people as well as other services, such as mental health and addiction counseling. The model is designed to support successful reintegration into community living.
“We plan on starting with 15 to 30 tiny homes. Depending on the need, we’ll go as high as 50 and that will include a central services area,” Mayer said.
The project is a partnership between the HRDC, Montana State University and St. James Episcopal Church. This summer, the Montana State University School of Architecture hosted an open house where students presented the work they had done researching and developing the tiny houses. Professor Ralph Johnson is leading the work at MSU.
MSU students plan to build the first house this summer. Each house is expected to cost about $10,000, Mayer said.
Right now the HRDC is in the process of fundraising for the project and finding land to build.
A fundraiser is being held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19 at I-Ho’s Korean Grill, 2631 W. Main St. A special menu will be available with 100 percent of donations going to the Housing First Village.
Donations are also being accepted online HERE.
To learn more about the HRDC's Housing First Village, visit the Facebook page.