City Lab
Austin's Fix for Homelessness: Tiny Houses, and Lots of Neighbors
Community First! Village’s model for ending homelessness emphasizes the stabilizing power of social connections.
The village is a 27-acre master planned community just outside Austin, Texas, where more than 200 people who were once chronically homeless live in tiny homes and RVs.
2018
Themes:
For Low-Income Renters, the Affordable Housing Gap Persists
Finding affordable housing isn’t getting any easier for the more than a quarter of U.S. renters that are extremely low-income. For six years, the National Low Income Housing Coalition has released an annual report calculating the discrepancy between available affordable housing units and renters who earn below the poverty line or 30 percent of the area median.
2018
Themes:
Why More Seniors Are Forming Their Own 'Villages'
Discusses the Beacon Hill example of the Village concept of housing for older people. A local group of independent seniors meet and support one other through the elder years. By pooling yearly membership fees, members of the village pay for a small staff that helps them find services like drivers, cleaners, and handymen in the local area.
2015
A Nursing Home That's Also a Dorm
In the Netherlands, more retirement and nursing homes are asking college students to move in, an arrangement that benefits everyone.
The intergenerational living model is beginning to gain in popularity. Since Humanitas opened its doors to students in 2012, two more nursing homes in the Netherlands have followed suit.
2015
Themes:
"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."