Work on Vista Village to begin this summer
Tiny home community set for Southeast Side
Work is expected to begin this summer on Vista Village, a pioneering tiny home community for the homeless on the Southeast Side.
Vista Village is expected to include 41 homes, each about 420 square feet, along with a community center and garden on the southwest corner of Refugee and Courtright roads, near Eastland Mall.
Organizers are finalizing details with the city and hope to break ground in late July or early August, said Juan “John” Perez, a partner at Perez Morris law firm who announced the project in early 2022.
“We’re excited,” Perez said. “Initially when we started, the difficulty was that we were doing something different, innovative, that was a challenge. But once we got some backers really behind us, money started coming in.”
Perez estimates that Vista Village will cost $6 million. Most of that will be covered by $100,000 sponsorships of each home. So far, Vista Village has sponsors for 31 of the 41 homes planned for the first phase, although sponsorship doesn’t end with writing a check.
“We’re asking for more than the money. We want our sponsors to become mentors to our residents,” Perez said. “At first I really hoped someone would give us $6 million. That would have been easy, but I learned in the past year if someone had written a check, it would have shortchanged our residents. We want people involved.”
The sponsors’ involvement reflects Vista Village’s wholistic approach to homelessness, a contrast to traditional approaches that focus on permanent housing. Instead of providing longterm housing, Vista Village is designed to provide an array of services such as health care, vocational training, substance abuse treatment and GED programs to transition people from homelessness to independence.
“If we’re going to help people transition out of homelessness to employment, and become part of our economy, they need help,” Perez said. “Housing is a component of that, but housing by itself, for many members, won’t meet their needs. Services are key.”
The ability to manage a separate home, even a tiny one, is part of the preparation.
“The houses all are designed with a bedroom, bathroom, a kitchen and living area, and a porch,” Perez said. “Each resident can live in a place with dignity and learn what it takes to be on the ground once they move to their own place — wash dishes, clean house, make the bed, and so forth.”
Last year, about 1,900 homeless people were counted in Columbus, although advocates estimate the actual number is higher.
Vista Village’s homes will be built by Unibilt Homes outside Dayton and shipped, fully assembled, to the site, said Perez.
Vista Village is preparing the first order of 13 homes as it continues to raise money to complete the project.
The community’s private backers include Jeff Edwards, CEO and president of The Edwards Companies; Sandy Doyle-ahern, president of EMH&T engineering firm; Yaromir Steiner, CEO of the development firm Steiner + Associates; the Robert Weiler Co.; Bruce Daniels, owner of Honda Marysville; Tom Feeney, former CEO of Safelite
Group; Columbia Gas; Scott White, CEO of IGS Energy; Kara Trott, founder of Quantum Health; Park National Bank; Marc Hawk, CEO of Revlocal; developer Donald Kelley; Ryan Arbogast and John Igel.
Vista Village continues to collect donations, and on Thursday, received $50,000 from the Columbus Realtors Foundation, which donated another $50,000 to the Franklinton Rising jobtraining and home-building program.
“We understand the dire need for affordable housing in our city,” said Columbus Realtors CEO Brent Swander. “Franklinton Rising and Vista Village are two model programs making a real difference in Columbus. Our board felt strongly enough about these two organizations to make its largest contribution in Foundation history.”
The city of Columbus and Franklin County have donated $500,000 each to the project and Perez said he is hoping to get $750,000 from the state for Vista Village’s community center.
Vista Village is focused on getting the 41 homes up and occupied, but Perez said there are plans for a second phase and he regularly receives queries from others looking to Vista Village as a model. Vista Village itself drew inspiration from the tiny home communities of Community First! Village in Austin and Veterans Community Project in Kansas City.
“People ask, ‘Can it be replicated?’ “he said. “But now we’re still looking for help. We still need to find sponsors for another 10 homes.” jweiker@dispatch.com @Jimweiker