KANSAS CITY, Kan. — For nearly three years KSHB 41 News has followed the development of Eden Village in Kansas City, Kansas, a privately built, gated community with tiny homes to house 23 chronically homeless people permanently.
On Monday, Cariann Lile moved into the community after six years of living in the woods, and 20 months spent getting sober.
“It’s so beautiful, thank you so much, it’s been so long,” she said. “I don’t have to wonder when I’ll be outside again, because it's real cold in the winter.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | A new development breaks ground that will offer permanent homes for the area's unhoused
That’s Eden Village’s goal, that no one sleeps outside.
“I can stay here forever?” Lile asked Eden Village staff. “Yes, you can stay here as long as you want, ‘Well, maybe I’ll just grow old here.’”
And that is the plan, for residents to live out their entire lives here, each month paying about $350, with access to a community with staff, a garden, and wrap-around resources to uplift people.
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Her tiny home is filled with furniture and each cabinet and drawer is filled with home items.
While Cariann wants to help others, for now, she’ll focus on slowing down, laughing, painting, and singing
“This feels like the first day of the rest of my life and it's one of the happiest days of my life,” she said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. Share your story idea with Megan.