Right off Martin Luther King Jr. parkway, 32 new tiny homes are officially complete and fully furnished, with a few already occupied. Visitors were able to tour the inside of unoccupied homes.
Back in January 2020, a group of about 30 homeless advocates and interested medical personnel convened to discuss the possibility of building Hope Village, a tiny home community for the homeless and patients of the local hospital. The group from Eden Village in Springfield, Missouri traveled to Wilmington and presented their model.
Eden Village was able to first showcase the types of houses it would have back in January of 2021 and the first residents moved in this April.
Eden Village focuses on providing permanent supportive housing to individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. It is not free, however, each resident pays a portion of their monthly earnings from sources that include, but are not limited to, Disability, SSI, Pension, Veteran Benefits, Family Trust/Support, income from work, external means, etc. to pay for rent and amenities.
Eden Village states on its website that residents accepted into the small gated community are allowed to stay in their homes forever.
The application to live in the community asks potential residents about their history of being homeless, as well as other personal questions to confirm details. Individuals seeking the chance to rent a home have to have a third party vouch for them, and basically confirm that they are, in fact, chronically homeless.
Personal data is kept in a database that can be shared, in a personalized form, with academic institutions and medical stakeholders to understand how Eden Village’s method affects a region’s homelessness over time.
