<
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/08/austin-homelessness-community-first-village/>
"On the outskirts of Austin, what began as a fringe experiment has quickly
become central to the city’s efforts to reduce homelessness. To Justin Tyler
Jr., it is home.
Tyler, 41, lives in Community First! Village, which aims to be a model of
permanent affordable housing for people who are chronically homeless. In the
fall of 2022, he joined nearly 400 residents of the village, moving into one of
its typical digs: a 200-square-foot, one-room tiny house furnished with a
kitchenette, a bed and a recliner.
The village is a self-contained, 51-acre community in a sparsely populated area
just outside Austin. Stepping onto its grounds feels like entering another
realm. Eclectic tiny homes are clustered around shared outdoor kitchens, and
neat rows of recreational vehicles and manufactured homes line looping
cul-de-sacs. There are chicken coops, two vegetable gardens, a convenience
store, art and jewelry studios, a medical clinic and a chapel. Roads run
throughout, but residents mainly get around on foot or on an eight-passenger
golf cart that makes regular stops around the property.
Tyler chose a home with a cobalt-blue door and a small patio in the oldest part
of the village, where residents’ cactus and rock gardens created a “funky,
hippie vibe” that appealed to him. He arrived in rough shape, struggling with
alcoholism, his feet inflamed by gout, with severe back pain from nearly 10
years of sleeping in public parks, in vehicles and on street benches.
At first, he kept to himself. He locked his door and slept. He visited the
clinic and started taking medication. After a month or so, he ventured out to
meet his neighbors.
“For a while there, I just didn’t want to be seen and known,” he said. “Now I
prefer it.”
Between communal meals and movie screenings, Tyler also works at the village,
preparing homes for the dozen or more people who move there each month.
In the next few years, Community First is poised to grow to nearly 2,000 homes
across three locations, which would make it by far the nation’s largest project
of this kind, big enough to permanently house about half of Austin’s
chronically homeless population."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-we-are-reading-bike-maps-offshore-wind/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
