Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today!
The project, which is set to break ground next year, will include places for residents to live, garden, worship and work.
In Austin, Texas, a project to offer affordable housing to some 200 chronically homeless citizens is on the move. Community First! Village, which has been in the planning stages for nearly 10 years, is set to soon break ground on a 27-acre property sprinkled with tiny houses, mobile homes, teepees, refurbished RVs, a three-acre community garden, a chapel, a medical facility, a workshop, a bed and breakfast, and an Alamo Drafthouse outdoor movie theater.
Also see: Brad Kittel Builds “Tiny Texas Houses”
Supporter Alan Graham, of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, notes that the price of not housing these folks costs taxpayers about $10 million a year, not to mention the emotional and psychological tolls on the homeless themselves.
Graham says that, for the most part, local residents seem to be in favor of the project. “We haven’t converted everybody,” he says, “but when people come out here they go, ‘Oh!’ They see a chapel, they see medical and vocational services on site, and they learn that residents will not live there for free. They’ll pay a monthly rent.”
Courtesy of Brad Kittell via The Rag Blog)” width=”637″ height=”424″ />(Photo: Courtesy of Brad Kittell via The Rag Blog)
Graham has been working with the homeless in his community for more than 14 years and cites broken families as the leading cause of homelessness. With Mobile Loaves and Fishes, Graham has not only helped feed the homeless all these years, but he has helped transition them into homes and jobs as well.
And he has given them hope. Graham views Community First! as the next step in that mission and the next step toward solving homelessness in the U.S.
As the local NPR station (KUT) reports, Alamo Drafthouse’s founder Tim League is another outspoken cheerleader for Community First! Village. In fact, he calls it “the very first ‘Yes, in my backyard’ project.”
Watch the video.
This article originally appeared on Shareable.net.
Holding Trump accountable for his illegal war on Iran
The devastating American and Israeli attacks have killed hundreds of Iranians, and the death toll continues to rise.
As independent media, what we do next matters a lot. It’s up to us to report the truth, demand accountability, and reckon with the consequences of U.S. militarism at this cataclysmic historical moment.
Trump may be an authoritarian, but he is not entirely invulnerable, nor are the elected officials who have given him pass after pass. We cannot let him believe for a second longer that he can get away with something this wildly illegal or recklessly dangerous without accountability.
We ask for your support as we carry out our media resistance to unchecked militarism. Please make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation to Truthout.