KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Eden Village, a private tiny home community for people experiencing homelessness, is nearing completion.
For the past two years, KSHB 41's Megan Abundis has followed the construction of Eden Village located near Metropolitan Avenue and S 10th Street in Kansas City, Kansas.
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In July 2022, Eden Village board members began boarding up and working to clear an abandoned mobile home park they planned to re-imagine.
Four months later, the first tiny home arrived at Eden Village.
In June 2023, a groundbreaking celebration was held to welcome more houses and more construction.
On Wednesday, Katrina Gerber, vice president for Eden Village, said they are fully funded and nearing completion.
"They are getting ready to pour this concrete today, so that’s pretty exciting,” Gerber said.
From the street and behind a wooden fence, a community filled with homes is coming together.
"Those all came in the last couple weeks. These came two weeks ago and two more are coming tomorrow,” Gerber said.
Gerber says 23 people will each have their own home come this spring.
Crews added a new retaining wall, powerlines, steps, sidewalks, concrete lay, parking, fences, gates, and will soon add landscaping.
“So we have this nice sidewalk that comes up,” Gerber said.
In the center, a resource building will soon be filled with partners offering mental health and addiction counseling, and health and dental care.
Gerber compares it to a clubhouse for community time.
“It’s a one-stop shop for them now; they don’t have to grab five different buses to get where they are going," she said. “The amount of work that’s happened in the last month is incredible.”
Gerber says for someone living outside right now, refuge is coming.
“Some of them don’t have a tent, just a fire trying to keep warm," she said. “Especially this time of the year, if you can imagine them being in one of these houses and getting their life back on track, it’s pretty amazing.”
Gerber and her team hoped Eden Village would be open this winter, but said zoning issues and a city’s storm sewer collapse modified construction.
To live there each person will need to pay $365 a month.
The area will be gated and secured.
Gerber says next month applications will be open for those who are chronically homeless.
They will go through an interview process and work with partners to identify people who are ready to move in and get help.
For more information, you can visit this link.
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