Community First! Village houses nearly 400 residents, most of whom experienced chronic homelessness, in a 51-acre master-planned development near Austin's northeast city limits. Phase 3 of MLF's expansion first announced last spring centers on 51 additional acres adjacent to the current village on Hog Eye Road. A fourth phase will bring 76 acres of residential and community space to Southeast Austin off of Burleson Road alongside a new 100-unit supportive housing project from Foundation Communities.
MLF founder and CEO Alan Graham said the nonprofit was able to push ahead with expansion following years of "stabilizing and learning" at its current community. Graham said MLF is now able to begin delivering on its expansion plans thanks to extensive collaboration among government entities, members of various faith groups and other community members.
“This is really the essence of Community First: How do we come out of our respective siloes, break out of these siloes, and move into community to come out here for a common purpose which is to mitigate [homelessness]?" Graham said. "Put all of our tribal beliefs over here, all of our political beliefs up on the shelf over there ... knowing that as human beings in this world, collectively, we can agree that the men and women that we see standing on our street corners and up underneath our bridges should not be there."
Community First! Village is made up of hundreds of microhomes and RVs that share public facilities, such as bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms and gathering spaces. The village also features cultural and professional development spaces as well as gardens and trails.
Future Community First! phases will follow that model with more public amenities and housing types to support a growing population. While featuring hundreds of new homes overall, MLF leaders said new development will be designed around smaller-scale "Neighborhoods of Knowingness" designed to maintain a sense of connection among smaller groups of residents within the larger site.
"We want to develop this whole property neighborhood by neighborhood so that we can kind of break down that scale," said Sarah Satterlee, MLF's director of architecture and site development. "Maybe you know people across the village, but your people, your family are really the people that live immediately around you that you do day-to-day life with."
Satterlee said Community First! Village's distinctive tiny homes and RVs will still be present throughout the expansions on both Hog Eye and Burleson roads. In addition, she said MLF is exploring a larger "tiny townhome" model for residents alongside larger 900-square-foot homes to better accommodate "missional" families—residents who were not homeless but live in the community and support its operations.
After years of development, MLF plans to begin significant infrastructure work on the expansion early next year. The first homebuilding at the new site could begin in early 2024 with resident move-ins starting in 2025, Satterlee said.
In the meantime, MLF is continuing with its operations at the Hog Eye Road community and around Austin. Graham also encouraged anyone interested to visit and tour the village and attend events at the site.
“When people come out and see the possibility, it’s a contrast into what appears to be hopeless on our street corners and under our bridges to a hopeful environment. Not a nirvana environment, but a hopeful environment," he said.
