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Jan 30, 2024

Inside 'first time' tiny home community where rent is free, each has two bedrooms, but only a few can apply

A COMMUNITY has chipped in to build a tiny home solution as skyrocketing housing prices and interest rates have made homeownership unattainable. Forward Paths Foundation, a Eustis, Florida-based

A COMMUNITY has chipped in to build a tiny home solution as skyrocketing housing prices and interest rates have made homeownership unattainable.

Forward Paths Foundation, a Eustis, Florida-based housing and post-foster care initiative looking to "positively influence at-risk youth," has unveiled plans to build several cottages.

"We've been working on (planning this community) for about nine years," Forward Path's executive director, Denise Burry, said to The U.S. Sun.

Burry said the homes are set to be completed in the next six months.

Once the homes are finished, they can house up to 27 people on the grounds.

The organization has rented several buildings to house 18 year olds moving out of the foster care system - the homes will be part of their housing solution in the coming years.

Now, the scheduled tiny home is set to give free temporary housing to some of the community's most at-risk youths.

"Our focus is on our community’s homeless youths and those who are aging out of foster care," the foundation said in its mission statement.

The tiny home community allows those residents a chance to test out homeownership, Burry said.

"Many of them, this is their first time figuring out how to go to college and put themselves out there," she said.

"So what better than to do it in a community where everybody around you is kind of in the same boat?"

The community will offer the youths time to figure out their plans and offer services to set them up for success.

Each tiny home will be around 600 square feet.

All homes come with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living space.

Each dwelling has necessary appliances, including in-unit washing and drying machines.

The local First United Methodist Church of Eustis donated the land where the houses are set to develop.

The community just received clearance from the local government to build the homes without garages, after the city mandated that all new builds must include a garage.

"In our project, we had to ask for permission for our homes not to have garages because most of our students don't have cars," Burry said.

Replacing the garages are storage sheds where residents can store bikes and other outdoor belongings.

The community will also have blossoming fruit trees and a garden where residents can cultivate some home-grown food.

"I think it's nice that our youth know that food doesn't just come from aisle 14 and Walmart," she said.

Burry said she likes to refer to the dwellings as cottages, since they are rather ample in size.

Housing costs throughout the US have ballooned, burdening first-time home buyers and small organizations with giant expenses.

Housing cost inflation can be good for homeowners, as it grosses more on home investments.

However, inflationary home markets can become inaccessible to first-time homebuyers that haven't benefitted from the growing prices.

The average home price in the US is $495,100, according to the Federal Reserve Bank.

The current price is down from a peak over $552,000 in December of 2022.

However, the average home interest rate on a 30-year mortgage is 7.09 percent this week, according to the mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

That's the highest rate since April 2002 - making housing prices even more unattainable to middle and low-income Americans.

The interest rate increase drives up the overall cost a homeowner will pay every month.

Tiny homes - with their proportionally tiny asking prices - remain a popular solution for first-time home buyers.

The U.S. Sun reports on other tiny home villages - here is a tiny home solution for under $6,000.

Also, here is how a family built a dream tiny home for $40,000.