AN affordable tiny home village has opened for residents, but they will need to be content with a communal living environment.
Mustard Seed Village, an affordable housing community located in Round Rock, Texas, just outside of Austin, that fits 28 families, was completed earlier this summer.
The affordable housing community was founded by Round Rock Police Department Lieutenant Joseph Claypool and his wife, Stephanie.
The rent is no more than $1,375 a month, which makes it ideal for anyone unbothered by community-style living who is looking to save money.
The completion of the community, which offers 28 two-bedroom, one-bath homes, was announced by the Austin-based credit union Amplify Credit Union, according to Community Impact.
Residents in the Mustard Seed Village consist of people from a variety of backgrounds, including single parents, blue-collar workers, students, first responders, and teachers, Community Impact reported.
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Claypool had worked with Amplify Credit Union to help fund the tiny home village, equipped with 822 square-foot two-level homes, the Austin American-Statesman reports.
In addition to the tiny homes, residents will have shared access to an outdoor fire pit, dog park, laundry machines, and a group home for girls who have recovered from alcohol or drug addiction.
The project took only six months to complete after being initiated in January 2023.
Construction was finished by the beginning of June, and two weeks later all of the homes were leased to residents.
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"Growing up, my mom always told us that if you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains," Claypool told Community Impact.
"[Stephanie and I] had a dream and a vision to give back to the community that gave to us."
In regard to the girls' group home, Claypool explained: "The fifth phase of the program is when they graduate from the girls' home.
"They don’t have credit history, they don’t have rental history, they don’t have — especially out of high school — a good paying job, so they need a place to live.
"So, we’ve also transitioned some of the young ladies into the tiny homes to give them a chance."
For anyone interested in affordable tiny homes, it's important to note there's a rental waitlist potential residents must join before moving in.
"In a perfect world, every single person that needs an affordable, safe place to live, we could make that happen," Claypool added.
"Right now people are kind of growing roots out of their feet and they want to stay.
"Hopefully we can help more people in the future with affordable housing ... My vision is not for people to look at [Mustard Seed] as a house, but as a home."
He concluded: "I think a lot of times when we look at apartment complexes, people build them as high and as close together as they can so they can capitalize on every single dollar.
"Here, it wasn’t about that. It was about giving people space and having their own walls."
The Mustard Seed Village rental price seems to be a great deal as RentCafe.com states the average renting price in Austin, Texas, to be $1,806.
Therefore, anyone living in the tiny home community founded by Claypool is spending approximately $400 less a month than people in similar living situations in the nearby area.
Claypool and his wife's affordable home community wouldn't have been possible without the help of Rene Flores, a Place 2 Round Rock City Council member and loan officer with Amplify Credit Union.
Flores shares the same concern regarding housing affordability in Texas.
Flores told Community Impact: "We do as much as we can as a city, but I believe it’s very much [up to] private development to fill that gap. We rely on builders and developers to have an eye and a heart to do that.
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"One of [Amplify’s] thoughts is that we can do something toward affordable housing.
"I don’t know that we think we can solve all of Central Texas’s issues, but if you can help one project at a time, that’s better than nothing."
Where to buy a tiny home
THE tiny home phenomenon found new heights as an alternative living solution for consumers concerned with ballooning homebuying costs and sustainability concerns.
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You can buy 'tiny homes' online in a few places, including:
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