Can trauma-informed tiny homes paired with health and community services provide stable housing for people experiencing homelessness, reducing their use of hospital services and law enforcement resources?

The project with HRDC provides permanent, supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. HRDC’s model applies trauma-informed design principles to create a stable housing community. It also creates a replicable model that reduces costs to the local system and spurs investment from hospitals and/or new models of private debt to fund housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness.

With a contract award from Fannie Mae, the HRDC team has been able to:

• Execute data sharing agreements with the local detention center and hospital, consistent with the Center for Supportive Housing’s Frequent Users System Engagement (FUSE) model.
• Complete design of four tiny home models as well as the site design plan.
• Execute a contract for infrastructure build-out and construction of 12 units.
• Produce a Guidebook to promote scaling of permanent, supportive housing programs.

By the end of the contract with Fannie Mae, HRDC produced the Housing First Village, a community of 12 trauma-informed tiny homes that is paired with health and community services. HRDC will also build another seven homes to complete the village. Their project partner, Urban Institute, published an Outcomes Study that outlines the research and methodology that supports the project.

HRDC is a nonprofit Community Action Agency dedicated to building a better community through innovation and leadership. HRDC provides programs and services in housing; food and nutrition; child and youth development; senior empowerment; community transportation; home heating, energy, and safety; and community development.