Can a Tiny Home Village Create Stability for the Homeless?  

Leading a bold new plan to address the need for stable, affordable housing for the homeless, Debbie Watts Robinson, CEO of the Miami Valley Housing Opportunities (MVHO), is working to build a tiny home community called Beacon Place Village in northeast Dayton. Robinson sees this as a cost-effective way to be able to provide housing, not just for the homeless but for others too.    

MVHO provides housing mainly for those who have been homeless with a disability since 1991. The Dayton area non-profit houses around 1,500 people in about 50 buildings, the largest with 83 units and the smallest, a single-family home. The qualifying disability for MVHO may include physical disability, addictions or a severe and persistent mental illness. 

Robinson explains that when these folks have stability in their life and a place they can go and live in, they do very well.  “Is everything perfect? I’m not going to tell you that but, they are doing well when they have the appropriate services, somebody they can talk to and somebody that can help them stay on track,” says Robinson.  

She also adds that, “It’s a whole lot cheaper to help someone stay in the housing that we provide, than it is for them to be just out there in the system going to the emergency rooms, you name it, all the things that happen when people don’t have a place to live.” 

MVHO Street Outreach Program  

Heather Wilson, Program Services Directory who oversees the Street Outreach Program and Supportive Services at two of the buildings, says that MVHO is the only agency in Montgomery County that offers a street outreach service and provides the unsheltered population with case management and ultimately housing. “There’s nobody else in this county that does what we do, so we are very unique.”  

Every year the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires a Point in Time count of the homeless populations. Wilson, who has worked with MVHO for 10 years, said in 2023 there was a whopping 16% increase in the homeless population and in 2024 the number went down slightly, but that 16% is the highest number she has ever seen.   

According to the Homeless Solutions Policy Board, on a single night in 2024, 687 people were in shelters or sleeping unsheltered in Montgomery County. “We know our problem here in Dayton is growing,” says Robinson.  

Researching Housing Types and Communities  

So, Robinson together with Leah Konicki, a Del Mar Fellowship recipient, researched various housing types including 3D printed homes, shipping containers and mobile homes. They also visited other Tiny Home Communities such as Community First in Austin, TX and Vista Village in Columbus, Ohio to see first-hand how they might best benefit the community in Dayton. You can read about Community First and Vista Village in this Brick by Brick article.  

Robinson and Konicki eventually chose a local modular home builder, Unibilt, which also built Vista Village, Ohio’s first tiny home program.   

In talking with the Unibilt owner Robinson added, “There’s a possibility of some of our people possibly working in their factory…We like the synergy there.”   The individual tiny homes in the planned 40-unit village would cost almost half the price of building a large 40-unit multifamily building.   

The houses planned for The Beacon Place Village are 400 square feet and have a 50 square feet front porch. They include a kitchen, a small sitting area, a bedroom, and a bath. Robinson says the in middle of the village will be a “robust Community Center” that will provide various services for those living in the community and may even be a place for people living on the streets to come and get services.   

Wilson explained that some residents cannot stay with other people, due to their mental health diagnoses or other reasons, and whereas others work better in a group. So Individual homes with a shared community center would better serve different housing needs.  

Tenants would be responsible for paying 30% of their income toward rent.  

Reaction to the Tiny Home Village Concept  

One potential resident could be Keith Monnin who grew up in Dayton, was part of the marching band at Meadowdale High School and went on to earn an associate’s degree from Sinclair Community College.   

 “I do construction, I’ve worked customer service in different capacities, worked in call centers, worked for airlines, worked in hotels, done a lot of different things. So, as they say, I’m a jack of all trades, master of none,” says Monnin.   

Over the years, his housing journey has taken many challenging turns. Monnin lived with his ailing parents, in apartments that had infestations or rents over time he couldn’t afford and dealt with theft of his personal items in shelters.   

Monnin is currently working to find housing, “I call this a homeless experience, I never say I am homeless because that’s a noun. I usually make it a verb or adverb because at some point I know when I’m done with this, it’s just this experience. It’s a learning experience. That’s all it is.” 

We showed Monnin some pictures of the Beacon Place Village design concept to get his feedback on this type of community housing. “Actually, I think that’s a good thing because see…when you’re in a multifamily, you just have a small space and that’s your space,” said Monnin. 

 “If I actually have an address, this is my address and that way this is mine, here. And I can say there’s a sense of pride in that… whereas before you feel a sense of disconnect. And I think that’s what happens when you become in a homeless situation.”  

The Road to Building Beacon Place Village  

MVHO wants to provide healthy support systems. “What we don’t want are people isolating themselves in their own units or in their own homes. We want people to have pride in where they’re living. We want them to be neighborly. We want this to feel like not only their home but their own community as well,” emphasizes Wilson.  

But to build that vision, MVHO will have to raise several more million dollars. They have already secured the property on Needmore Road near Old Troy Pike, the local home builder Unibilt Homes, and the construction company Oberer. Robinson says they’ve raised $3.5 million of the eight to nine million they need and are very optimistic that it can be completed within two years.  

 “We have to admit, as a community, there’s always going to be people out there who really don’t have anybody, who needs somebody to make sure that they have a safe place to live. So here at MVHO, our vision is a community where everyone has a place they can call home, and that’s what drives us every day,” says Robinson. 

We want to hear your feedback? Let us know your thoughts on tiny homes. Do you think building tiny home villages would help more with our housing needs? Would they be good for someone just starting out? How well do you think they would benefit seniors who want to downsize? Do you see tiny home villages a good solution for helping the homeless population?

Emiko Moore – Multi-Media Journalist

Emiko Moore is a graduate of Ohio State University has been a freelance producer for NBC News for the last 20 years, covering stories in southwest Ohio and in the tri-state area. She also hosted The Lebanon City Show and was a print journalist for the Western Star, focusing on Warren County. Prior to moving back to her hometown of Lebanon, OH, she worked in NYC for NBC TODAY and NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation. As a volunteer with Building Bridges Community Conversations, Ishinomaki Playground Project, and Miller Ecological Park, she believes it takes continuous work to strengthen communities. She is excited about journalism that explores the issues while highlighting solutions to bring about positive change.