We are very excited to build a tiny home for The Farm at Penny Lane with Chatham Habitat and XDS!  The work will take place at this year’s Chatham County Fair!  This article in the Chatham Post explains this wonderful project:

Chapel Hill, Chatham County — Opportunity Village in Eugene, Oregon has become a place where lives are transformed. In this planned village, homeless people get a house, a community, and a chance to get their lives back.

Opened in 2013, the project is a collaboration between multiple partners to create a secure, comfortable place that homeless people can call home. The micro homes range from 60 to 80 square feet and residents share cooking, gathering, restroom, and laundry facilities.

When Thava Mahadevan learned about Opportunity Village, he got a vision for a similar type of transformational project in Chatham County.

As the executive director of Cross Disability Services, or XDS, a local nonprofit that offers support services and treatment to individuals with disabilities and mental illness, Mahadevan believes that tiny homes might offer a solution for homelessness.

With housing costs continually on the rise in the Triangle, Mahadevan says that there is a huge hunger for affordable housing. These rising costs have forced some people to seek alternative housing such sleeping in storage sheds or even camping in the woods. Mahadevan wants to provide these people with a better, safer, low cost housing alternative.

As a first step towards fulfilling his vision for the area’s homeless population, XDS will build a 336 square foot model home next month at the Chatham County Fair. The house will be a partnership between XDS, Chapel Hill’s Bold Construction who will provide the labor, and Chatham Habitat for Humanity who will fund the project.

The house is designed for individuals who struggle with some form of mental disability or illness. The $38,000 home should only take a few days to finish. Once completed, it will be transported to XDS’ Chatham County headquarters.

To read the original article, visit the Indy Weekly.

 Jamie Garrett via Chatham Post