Two years after the first 240-square-foot tiny home began growing roots near downtown Colorado Springs, the city’s inaugural supported housing village for homeless young adults is nearing buildout.

Young at-risk residents occupy 16 tiny homes on a .63-acre swath in the working-class Mill Street neighborhood near the decommissioned Martin Drake Power Plant. The area had been plagued by illegal squatters before six dilapidated houses were demolished to make room for the new complex.

The 18th and final space-saving modular home will be trucked to the village in mid-April, marking the project’s completion, said Shelley Jensen, founder and CEO of We Fortify, a community building nonprofit.

“It’s been seven years since I started with the research phase, then development, then building, then programming,” she said.

Now, Jensen said she’s received phone calls from communities in California, Pennsylvania and Georgia “wanting us to go there and build these villages for them.”

The organization is just getting started on its vision.

The unique idea — to provide separate small units for $600 a month to 18- to 25-year-olds who age out of the foster care system or are staying in a local homeless shelter or living in their cars or on a friend’s couch — and supply a support team to motivate them to graduate into permanent housing within two years is working so well that it’s expanding, Jensen said.

A replicated model of the $2.6 million Working Fusion design is being planned at a yet undisclosed site 4 miles away, Jensen said Wednesday. A waiting list of potential residents has more than 50 referrals from local agencies, she said.

Danielle Hendrix, resident relations specialist, visits one of the tiny homes in a village south of Weidner Field on South Sierra Madre Street on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. The village has been housing young homeless people between the ages of 19-25. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)

Another style of small, affordable-housing units targeted for teachers and other school employees of Harrison School District 2 also is underway.

Wendy’s Village, named after D-2 Superintendent Wendy Birhanzel, who won Colorado’s 2023 Superintendent of the Year award, will feature 20 duplexes, each 352 square feet in size, on an empty .99-acre parcel on the northwest side of Mountain Vista Community School, 2550 Dorset Drive.

The $6 million duplex complex will offer independent living for employees of the school, which this year has 609 students in grades K-8, said Mike Claudio, assistant superintendent of personnel support services for D-2.

New teachers, who start at a salary of $47,545, often inquire about housing, he said.

“They ask, ‘Can I live in Colorado Springs?’ And I say you can, but you have to have a roommate or two or three in order to make a paycheck go as far as possible,” Claudio said.

The units will be “dignified” net-zero electrically powered homes and rent for $825 a month, he said.

A community center and garden plots will be on-site, Jensen said, and a fundraising drive for the project starts this month.

“It’s a huge recruitment tool for us, and it’s a huge need for the community,” Claudio said. “We’re trying to improve the community we’re in and keep the money in the southeast as much as possible.”

No other local school district has ventured into affordable housing for educators, said D-2 spokeswoman Christine O’Brien, who initiated the project in partnership with Jensen’s organization. D-2’s charitable foundation will work on fundraising; another Colorado Springs nonprofit, Greccio Housing, will manage the village.

“There are districts in Colorado and across the United States looking for creative ways to solve the workforce housing shortage,” O’Brien said. “D-2 jumps in feet first and decides to make it happen. It’s a deliberate and bold move, which is the way we do things.”

The timeline depends on fundraising, Jensen said.

Working Fusion received a $470,000 grant from Colorado’s new funding for affordable housing statewide, Gov. Jared Polis’ office announced Wednesday.

The organization is among the first 16 recipients collectively awarded $25.3 million from Proposition 123 Land Banking Funds, a new program Colorado voters approved last year.

The award cycle will help create 1,380 affordable-housing units statewide, according to a news release.

We Fortify will use its cut to install under-skirting at Working Fusion village and defray the project’s $2.3 million in capital costs, Jensen said.

In the fenced development off Fountain Boulevard and South Sierra Madre Street, winding sidewalks lead to neat, tended rows of tiny homes that are tasteful inside and out.

The Working Fusion village is unique, said staff member Claudia Franco.

“There’s never been anything like this,” she said. “We’re working with the whole human to help them find stability and security within their housing, rather than three strikes and you’re out. We’re empowering them.”

Residents — 99% of whom have a job or are going to school — have a professional team to address their mental, physical, emotional, education, employment and daily needs.

“It’s been incredible to see the change and the impact we’re having on the residents,” said Ashley Burns, manager of volunteers and resident relations.

Residents arrive mistrustful, fearful and traumatized from past experiences, she said.

“Once they see how much we care and the passion we have for this job, it’s like a wave that grows,” Burns said.

But Jensen said her employees are not caseworkers, which is the normal setup for homeless people trying to work their way back into housing.

Instead, the team works individually and collectively to understand residents’ needs, offer advice and options on decision-making and allow them to grow and be accountable for their choices, said Danielle Hendrix, resident relations specialist.

“It’s about how do you make this better and useful for them so that every day they put themselves in their best interest with family ties, personal interests, they continue to put themselves first,” she said. “That’s how they can better their lives.”

Five residents have been asked to leave the program for problems that include violating conditions of the lease, Jensen said.

As of October, Colorado Springs had 85 homeless people ages 18 to 25 on its record books, Jensen said, 66 of whom qualified to live at Working Fusion.

“We only had one home available at the time,” she said. “The need is there, and we’ll continue to try to fill it.”

A transitional apartment complex for homeless young adults by The Place, the city’s homeless shelter for teens and young adults, also is under construction near 19th and Uintah streets.

A village of tiny homes south of Weidner Field on South Sierra Madre Street has been housing young homeless people between the ages of 19-25. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)