Kansas City Council raises funds to build tiny house for a homeless veteran

The Kansas City Council on Thursday cobbled together funds from several sources to help pay the $10,000 cost of one home in a new tiny house village for homeless veterans.

“They have funds for 10 houses. This will be the 11th,” Councilman Scott Taylor said in explaining the council’s action.

The council approved a measure to use the city’s $5,300 surplus from the downtown library’s completed tax increment financing plan to provide partial funding. The Carpenters Regional Council agreed to match that contribution, generating the full funding for one tiny house.

The tiny house village is the brainchild of the nonprofit Veterans Community Project. Organizers recently built a model home on the site at 89th Street and Troost Avenue. The site has a capacity for 52 tiny homes for homeless veterans.

Taylor said carpenters are offering to provide volunteer labor, which may reduce the cost of some of the construction. He also called on Kansas City corporations to sponsor more houses.

Actual building of the homes awaits completion of utilities and other preparatory work. The pad sites should be in place in a few months, and construction on the houses can begin after that.

Learn more at www.veteranscommunityproject.com.

This story was originally published June 23, 2016 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Kansas City Council raises funds to build tiny house for a homeless veteran."