I’m building a village of small ‘colorful and clean’ bungalow style homes – rent is free but you must meet the criteria

A NEW tiny home village is under construction in West Virginia.

Rent will be free when the community is completed – but not everyone will be able to sign up.

Ruston Seaman is a former missionary and the man behind The New Vision Village, a new small village being built specifically for young adults coming out of foster care.

Situated outside the city limits of Philippi, he hopes to build a community of 24 bungalow-style homes.

The first house was opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, April 22.

Measuring 500 square feet, it will provide a safe haven for a young person leaving foster care and at risk of homelessness.

“We designed it to be nice, colorful and clean,” he told Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

“It should feel like home. You should never ask anyone to live somewhere you wouldn’t live.”

West Virginia places four times as many children in foster care per capita as the national average.

Leaving foster care without the support network of a family puts many former foster children at a disproportionate risk of lack of housing.

“Children aging out of foster care are struggling,” Seaman told the Gazette.

Five houses must be completed by the end of summer thanks to a $750,000 grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh.

HELPING HAND

But New Vision Village will provide much more than a roof over its residents’ heads.

It will offer counseling, job training, transportation, and even teach fundamental life skills like cooking It is driving.

It should feel like home. You should never ask anyone to live somewhere you wouldn’t live.

Sailor RustonFounder, The New Vision Village

New Vision Village is not the first of its kind.

Bridge Builder Communities has received zoning approval from city commissioners in Augusta, Georgia, to build a new tiny village with 25 homes for young adults transitioning out of foster care.

The $2.5 million development will be located in an abandoned park.

Its residents will receive a free 320 square foot space houses which come fully furnished and equipped with all appliances.

In Oklahoma City, Pivot, Inc. is a small home village that serves people aged 12 to 24 who live alone, without parental support.

First built in 2022, construction is underway to add even more houses.

Check out the network of four small villages that offer free housing to veterans.

And 100 tiny houses are being given away for free in California.