With three new houses now standing in the Golden Triangle Regional Homeless Coalition’s tiny home village, President Susan Garton can imagine what life will look like for its future residents.
Even though it is still a construction site now, she can see the eventual neighborhood of 10 brightly colored houses, with sidewalks children will ride their bikes on and a pavilion at the back of the homeless coalition’s two-acre property tucked into trees on Airline Road.
“I want to see our residents out and talking to each other and having that sense of community,” Garton said. “I want to see them uplift each other. “… I want harmony. I want to bring peace to these people. They’re in limbo right now and need help.”
The three tiny homes were delivered Monday to the coalition’s property between the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society and Fire Station 4. The city donated the land to the Homeless Coalition in March 2023.
Coalition volunteer project director and board member Sandra DePriest called the tiny home village a “launching place” for the homeless of the Golden Triangle, where they can stay between three to six months while they reach the next phase of supporting themselves.
“Our plan is to have a home that would be a temporary home for someone as they become progressively independent,” DePriest said.
“… They will be making progress toward jobs, toward training for a particular job, or earning an income. Some of them may be disabled, and they’re waiting on disability. But as long as they’re able to graduate to support themselves, that’s our objective.”
So far, DePriest said, the project has received $200,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors gave the coalition in 2023, along with $19,000 from 100+ Women Who Care Columbus, another $48,000 donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and two other $12,000 donations from private donors, among other donations.
“The entire board of council members, even board of supervisors, has been supportive of this because they know the impact it’s going to have on Columbus as a whole,” Garton said. “If you can get them working, that’s money put right back into the economy, and it helps Columbus. I’m really proud of Columbus, both as a community and our elected officials.”
Making the houses homes
The three homes delivered Monday – two blue and one yellow – stand alongside the rest of the beginnings of the tiny village, including an administrative building and another, more neutral-colored home donated by Holt High School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Garton said the high school shop class received a $5,500 grant to build the tiny home, with the stipulation that they donate the building. The home was delivered to the village in May, and Garton said it will act as a home for an on-site manager.
But the other houses will actually become places for homeless people to live, Garton said.
The yellow house currently on the property, she said, is an individual unit for between one to two people, roughly 10-by-20-feet.
The two blue houses, Garton said, are handicap accessible units, built slightly wider to accommodate a wider door and bathroom, roughly 12-by-20 feet. They will eventually be joined by seven other homes, including two family units that can accommodate up to four people.
While all of the spaces are small, Garton compared the experience of being inside of one to staying in a hotel room, with just enough space for essentials like a bathroom, a kitchen area without an oven, and a sleeping area.
The village also includes the exterior of an administrative building, which will eventually hold an office, a bathroom and a computer bank area that residents can use during their time in the village, Garton said.
All of the homes and the administrative building were purchased from Graceland Portable Buildings, Garton said, besides the donated home.
Though the homes are currently just exterior shells, volunteer John Hudson said electrical and water installation are soon to come, along with insulation and drywall, to make each into a liveable home. Hudson said he plans to start coordinating with contractors who have volunteered their expertise to get the homes completed.
“The community has helped us,” Hudson said. “The contractor community here in Columbus is very kind. And I think as we get further along, we’ll get more input from independent contractors in the area.”
The tiny home donated by Holt High School also needs some minor interior renovations, Garton said, to bring it up to Mississippi codes.
DePriest said a laundry facility should also be delivered to the property later this month, bringing the total number of buildings on the property to six.
While work begins on getting the first six buildings ready for use, DePriest said the coalition is waiting on a request for a sales tax exemption before it purchases the rest of the village. However, if that goes through in a timely fashion, she expects the rest of the homes to be delivered by May, and the entire village to be complete by the end of the year.
“The first six will be our dry run,” DePriest said. “Then, by that time, we’ll probably be at May. And we’ll get the others delivered and pick up with those.”
DePriest said the village has started to come together by “the grace of God,” and it is “outstanding” to see months of effort from volunteers begin to come into fruition with the first three tiny homes.
“It makes it really real and come alive,” she said. “For those who have been supportive and worked with us through this process, it’s an encouragement to them as well.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
