Officials say Beacon Place Village would be the first project of its kind in the Dayton region, and tiny homes are much less expensive to build than other types of housing, plus many unsheltered people like to live in settings that both offer community and a sense of belonging but also private living spaces. The project has many supporters, including the city of Dayton, the Dayton Foundation, the Homeless Solutions Policy Board and Montgomery County ADAMHS.
“We do get a decent amount of support for our projects from leadership in the community,” said Debbie Watts Robinson, CEO of MVHO. “But the reality is I’ve never seen as much support as we have for this project.”
MVHO says it is working toward developing Beacon Place Village on Needmore Road, west of Old Troy Pike in Dayton’s Kittyhawk neighborhood, at the southern corporation limits of Huber Heights. The nonprofit has control of the 12-acre site, which is undeveloped land.
MVHO provides housing to about 1,200 people every year, with about half residing in properties the organization owns, while the rest live in units that belong to private landlords.
Beacon Place would be a roughly $9.6 million investment, and MVHO says it has secured more than one-third of the capital funding needed for the project, which includes a $1.25 million commitment from the city of Dayton.
Robinson said tiny homes can cost about half of the funding it takes to build more traditional types of multifamily housing. Right now, apartment construction can run around $300,000 per unit, she said.
At Beacon Place, preference would be given to unsheltered people who are living in the woods, automobiles and vacant buildings instead of staying in homeless shelters. Research has found that people who sleep in places that are not fit for human habitation experience higher rates of chronic disease, serious mental illness and substance abuse issues.
Beacon Place units would be about 500 square feet and would have a kitchen and living area, a bedroom and a restroom. Robinson said, “What we can do in 500 square feet is pretty amazing.”
Beacon Place also would have a community center that basically acts as a living room for residents and also provides case management services to residents and other MVHO clients, Robinson said. She said the project site is along two bus lines and a bike path that provide a direct way to get to city center, which has lots of resources and services.
Leah Konicki, technical advisor with MVHO, said she was tasked with identifying less expensive ways to develop new housing to address homelessness, and MVHO staff have visited tiny home developments in communities including Columbus and Austin, Texas.
Vista Village in Columbus has 41 tiny homes, a community center, a community garden, a park and green space. The homes were constructed by Unibilt, which is a Vandalia-based modular home builder that is a partner on the Beacon Place Village project.
Community First! Village in Austin was intentionally designed to encourage interactions between neighbors, with tiny homes being clustered around common areas that have outdoor community kitchens, green space, laundry rooms and restrooms and shower facilities.
Tiny home developments have helped expand housing options while also supporting long-term stability for residents, said Patrick Bailey, assistant director of the Montgomery County Human Services Planning and Development Department.
“Beacon Place Village would increase housing opportunities while also providing case management and supportive services for individuals experiencing homelessness,” said Bailey, who noted that the Homeless Solutions Policy Board strongly supports expanding permanent supportive housing options in the local community.
The tiny home model has proven successful in other parts of the country by providing manageable, safe and stable living environments for previously unhoused individuals, said Colleen Oakes, director of communications and strategic initiatives with the Montgomery County ADAMHS Board.
“This project is more than just a roof over the individual’s head — it also creates a safe community environment while offering substance use and mental wellness supports, designed to assist individuals on their recovery journey,” she said. “It will build a sense of community and camaraderie among the residents.”
Multiple unsheltered individuals told this newspaper last year that they choose to sleep in homeless encampments and abandoned buildings over homeless shelters because they feel a sense of community and connection to the people they live with.
Konicki said Beacon Place Village could be a good model for other housing projects for underserved community members like seniors and youth in foster care who are aging out of the system. Local leaders also say the Dayton region has a large number of empty lots that would be good infill sites for tiny homes.
Beacon Place is planned as permanent supportive housing, but it’s possible that could change if the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shifts its funding priorities to focus mainly on transitional housing. Transitional housing is short-term housing; people can live in permanent supportive housing indefinitely.
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