The tiny home community, called Jeffrey Commons, was a project started by Sponsors. The Eugene nonprofit aims to reduce recidivism through affordable housing.
At a grand opening ceremony on Friday, guests toured a few of the units located off of Barger, near Elmira Road.
“I’m personally grateful for the support that we have received from the neighbors. Often times when you develop affordable housing there can be significant push-back,” Sponsors Executive Director Paul Solomon said.
There are five duplexes and with 10 units in total. Each unit is close to 300 feet and includes a small kitchen, a bathroom, a bed, and a loft for storage.
The idea, if for recently released adults from jail or prison to rent a home without for 12 to 24 months Solomon said.
“While people are living here we’ve developed a housing equity pool where $100 a month of their rent will be put into an equity savings account for their use when they’re ready to move into their next [home],” he said.
Funding for the project came from numerous donors; however, Solomon said they didn’t take federal dollars. And that, he said, allowed them to loosen restrictions on who Sponsors can rent to.
“We wanted to explore a different model to see if we could scale a project like this up and be able to stand up these units at less cost than a traditional large apartment community,” Solomon said.
Asked whether the project achieved a less costly outcome, Solomon said in some cases yes.
“It is a little cheaper. The per unit cost is still not insignificant, especially with stick build construction, but there were a number of cost saving that were achieved in this project,” he said.
The Jeffrey Commons Tiny Home community was named after a former Sponsors staff member who passed away in 2018.
