I’m building a village of ‘colorful and clean’ bungalow-style tiny homes – rent is free but you must meet the criteria
A NEW tiny home village is in the works in West Virginia.
Rent will be free once the community is complete - but not everyone will be able to apply.
Ruston Seaman is a former missionary and the man behind The New Vision Village, a new tiny home village being built specifically for young adults aged out of foster care.
Situated just outside the city limits of Philippi, he hopes to build a community of 24 bungalow-style houses.
The very first home was unveiled in a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday, April 22.
Measuring 500-square-feet, it will provide a safe haven for a young person exiting foster care and at risk of homelessness.
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“We've designed it to be pleasant, colorful, clean,” he told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
“It should feel like a home. You should never ask anybody to live somewhere you wouldn't live.”
West Virginia places four times as many children in foster care per capita than the national average.
Leaving foster care without the support network of a family puts many former foster children at a disproportionate risk of homelessness.
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"Kids aging out of foster care are struggling," Seaman told the Gazette.
Five homes should be complete by the end of summer thanks to a $750,000 grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh.
HELPING HAND
But The New Vision Village will provide much more than a roof over the heads of its residents.
It will offer counseling, job training, transportation, and even teach fundamental life skills like cooking and driving.
It should feel like a home. You should never ask anybody to live somewhere you wouldn't live.
Ruston Seaman
The New Vision Village is not the first of its kind.
Bridge Builder Communities has received zoning approval from city commissioners in Augusta, Georgia to build a new tiny home village of 25 homes for young adults exiting foster care.
The $2.5 million development will be situated on an abandoned park.
Its residents will be provided rent-free, 320-square-foot homes that come fully furnished and equipped with all appliances.
In Oklahoma City, Pivot, Inc is a tiny home village that services people aged 12 to 24 living on their own without parental support.
First built in 2022, construction is now underway to add even more homes.
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See the network of four tiny home villages that provides free housing to veterans.
And 100 tiny homes are being handed out free of charge in California.