Rhonda Mattingly started talking about a tiny home village in 2017. Almost a decade later, the homes are going up in north Lincoln.
Hope Village, a community of 18 tiny homes for people leaving incarceration, is now under construction, according to KOLN. The nonprofit behind it, Bridges to Hope, expects the first two homes to be finished by Monday, Oct. 19, with the rest coming soon.
"With a record, it's very difficult to find a landlord who is willing to rent to them," said Mattingly, the group's executive director. "Having a stable, safe environment and actual community will help keep them from going back."
Small homes, low rent
KOLN reported the homes will be 300 to 500 square feet each. The Bridges to Hope project page gives a range of 250 to 500 square feet. Either way, each is planned with a sleeping area, a kitchenette and a private bathroom with a shower.
Rent is set at $1 per square foot per month, plus utilities. That works out to a few hundred dollars a month for most homes, a big help for someone starting over with little money and no rental history.
A shared community building on the property will host peer support such as AA and NA meetings. The nonprofit's website says it will also have a gathering space, a large industrial kitchen, laundry and meeting rooms. Bridges to Hope will keep handing out clothing, hygiene products and household items like furniture to people coming out of prison, as it has for years.
The village sits at North 27th Street and Leighton Avenue, on a long-vacant property covered by a purchase agreement between the nonprofit and the City of Lincoln. The group says the spot has easy access to public transportation, grocery stores and health and treatment services. Bridges to Hope will keep ownership of the land.
Built in part behind prison walls
What sets this project apart is who's building it. The plan from the start was for construction to begin inside correctional facilities. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services has shared photos of a shipment of tiny house walls built in the CSI shops at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, headed to Hope Village.
Some current inmates are also helping build the homes to gain work experience. Dominique Williams is one of them.
"I want to do something that is going to affect my community in a positive way," Williams said. "It's easy to get out, but it's hard to stay out when you're getting out to absolutely nothing."
Mattingly said anyone currently incarcerated who wants to help with construction can ask their unit managers about volunteering.
Money has been a hurdle. In August, KOLN reported foundations were poured and the community center and donation buildings were up, but Mattingly said the group was about $1 million short in funds and in-kind donations. A year earlier, the station reported Bridges to Hope had raised $2.2 million of a $3.2 million campaign.
"My goal and my dream and my prayers is that this will be contagious," Mattingly said. She'd like to see tiny home villages for homeless veterans, the general homeless population and even retirees.
Why it matters for Contractors
Hope Village isn't a big commercial job, but it shows a different way of building. Panelized walls built off-site and set in place on prepared foundations is the same basic idea behind a lot of modular and prefab work. The site still needs foundations, utilities, roofing, plumbing, electrical and finish work to turn those panels into homes.
The nonprofit is leaning on volunteers and in-kind donations, and the website says an experienced local developer has committed resources. No general contractor has been named, and we aren't naming one here. For contractors, a gift of labor or materials to a project like this can go a long way, and as of August the group said it was still short.
There's also a workforce angle. Inmates helping build these homes are picking up real construction skills. For contractors who are always hunting for good help, people coming out of programs like this could be worth a look as future apprentices.
If the model catches on, as Mattingly hopes, other Nebraska communities could follow with tiny home villages of their own.