Tiny home village a vision for a ordable housing group

Plans for 10 units for young adults depends on funding, local approvals

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

If Ashley Dalzell has her way, the vacant lot next to her Access Housing o ce in Commerce City will become a tiny home campus, o ering transitional housing for young adults.

Dalzell, executive director for Access Housing, is negotiating to use a plot of land in Commerce City to build tiny homes and expand transitional housing services for families and people under the age of 25, emancipated high school students and young people that have aged out of the foster care system.

Dalzell said she has a grant from Adams County for the development of a traditional eight-unit a ordable housing development. She’d prefer to do something di erent, where the tenants have a bit more privacy.

“We are looking for support for the development and asking the Commerce City Council for approval,” Dalzell said.

Dalzell said her vision is to build a tiny home village and collaborate with various community groups, including local high schools.

“ e tiny home village would be like the ones you see on TV, each with its own kitchen, bathroom and loft with a bedroom,” Dalzell said. “By owning the property, we can invest in the property, and provide a bathroom and kitchen in each individual unit.”

Dalzell said she knows it’s a di erent concept and is excited to work with the city planners and commissioners to bene t a wide variety of individuals and young people that need their assistance with housing –starting with Commerce City.

“We are having preliminary conversations, with the focus on purchasing this piece of property in Commerce City, and also looking at a wide variety of property in Adams County,” she said.

She can’t say when the project will levard in Commerce City.

“ ese tiny houses have plumbing and bathroom inside the unit. So, launching a tiny home village is another layer of complexity,” Dalzell.

Transitional Housing

Access Housing has called Commerce City home for almost 40 years. ey serve all of Adams County and run a transitional shelter for families with children.

“In our current program here on the property, our sta sees the families daily, and our o ce is next to the shelter,” she said. “Our existing shelter has eight units, each with a two-bedroom apartment with its own bathroom, kitchen, and living room area.”

Dalzell said they prefer to manage smaller housing projects because it lets them have a single case manager e current development also has a playground, part of the list of services they o er for young families.

“We are also involved in the school district, help with teen skills, job skills or cleaning the apartment, and how to take care of shopping lists that lead to good meal prep for the family and the kids,” Dalzell.

Tiny home planning ey have also talked with Adams County about the property and the group’s vision, with an eye on future projects. eir demonstration home has its own plumbing built-in, which makes it quite di erent from the housing o ered by other housing groups.

Dalzell said their rst tiny home was nished last year in June. It’s currently on display in their parking lot but is ready to go, with bathroom and kitchen facilities ready for hookup. She said they hope to add nine more and move the bunch to the nearby lot.

“We’re hoping that by having this model in Commerce City, we can show them how this really can work and that we’re invested and want to make the long-term connections,” Dalzell said.

“We are trying to gure out which communities in Adams County are tiny home friendly and who wasn’t as far as the jurisdiction and trying to understand the complexities of this space,” she said.

“ e tiny home will come to us already built,” she said. “We don’t touch anything regarding building a tiny home. We have to gure out how to hook this up.”

Dalzell said her group had toured tiny home developments around the area to see how they operated.

A Denver-based development, for example, is located on land leased from Denver County. ose developments will have to move their homes every couple of years, when port or sheltering might look like. So it brought us back to our backyard,” Dalzell said.

Dalzell said that so far both Adams County and Commerce City are supportive. ere are still plenty of details to be settled, however.

“Sometimes they don’t have the answers to our questions but they invite us to the table to talk,” she said. “So far, they support Access Housing’s vision with the village concept.”

Struggling with unknowns

Dalzell said many municipalities struggle with the unknowns regarding a village of tiny homes.

Dalzell said Commerce City has asked questions about potential zoning for the tiny home village and about the building details – whether the development should be zoned as an RV or a mobile home park, for example. e city needs clari cation, but they have been willing to work with Access Housing so far, she said.

“Each tiny home-friendly municipality doesn’t have the answers today and they are all struggling with it,” she said. “Because there needs to be a shared understanding of what is involved with tiny homes, each municipality is still drafting zone and requirements.”

Dalzell said she is continuing her research, touring other tiny home villages, including some designated for veterans. She hopes to bring some new ideas to the table in future meetings with Commerce City and Adams County.

“We want a small neighborly feel. It’s essential to us,” Dalzell said. “ e other thing that’s very important to us is owning the property to make long-term investments. Add good fencing, trees, colorful gardens, and seating areas to enhance the property. We don’t want them to feel like they are on top of each other.” that many of the tribes hold from their centuries in many cases of working with the land, working with re,” Addington outlined. e roadmap, created by e Aspen Institute and e Nature Conservancy, compiled input from more than 250 experts in forest and re management, federal, state, local, and Tribal Nation authorities, and the private sector, including the forest products and insurance industries.

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