MOUNT PLEASANT — It’s called the Tiny Homes Village, a plan to build transitional housing for people facing homelessness in Isabella County.
The idea started in December 2021 when local nonprofits came together with one big goal: ending homelessness through small, affordable housing.
Tiny home board president Amanda Frank said tiny homes could provide help for those who need it most.
“The tiny homes are a village that we’re working to create for transitional housing,” said Frank. “So, we have four preferences, our veterans, our youth who have aged out of foster care, single parents and our elderly disabled folks.”
The project goes beyond housing.
On the grounds, nonprofit partners would be under one roof, offering various resources like job training, help getting vital documents and mental health care.
“We have wonderful nonprofits that are doing amazing work, and sometimes our community members just don’t know how to access it. So, we want to make sure that everyone has access to the help that they need,” said Frank.
But organizers face a huge hurdle, zoning for tiny homes or micro homes doesn’t currently exist in Union Township---that’s the wooded area where the micro homes would be placed.
“Micro homes and tiny homes do not have a universal building regulation. Most zones, and what you’re allowed to build in there go off of a universal or a national regulation for building,” said Frank.
The fight to get it can be a long, arduous process filled with community pushback.
Frank has set out a call to action.
“So, we’re asking all of our folks to send in letters to the Union Township trustees, as well as the planning board, to let them know there is a lot of support in creating a zoning that specifically addresses our micro homes and our homeless population.”
Frank said fundraising and grant money can’t be raised until zoning is approved.
But with another brutal Michigan winter on the horizon, Frank said lives are at stake.
“Every winner that goes by, we lose lives because it’s cold and they have nowhere to go.”
If zoning is approved and the project moves forward, residents could stay in a tiny home for up to two years-paying rent based on income.