Many mothers are personally resilient while facing circumstantial vulnerability.
We just help remove barriers as friends.
Why
Employment barriers and a lack of safe and affordable housing can create a pernicious cycle for single mothers. ‘How can I afford $1k+/month in rent when I make $10/hr. and have no time to go back to school or reliable transportation?’
For mothers capable of and committed to financial independence, but need temporary support to reach it, Hospitality Houses provide a highly relational approach to transitional housing.
What
Safe and beautiful transitional housing +
Supportive friends +
Time and space to build financial security +
A family advocate to support in all case-management type services including financial planning, job and career dev., transportation, and childcare
= A new beginning on a strong foundation for a family.
How
We build timber frame tiny homes in a warehouse with volunteers.
Families place the homes on their property for transitional housing.
Single moms who have graduated from partner programs apply to live in a home for 12-24 months.
The families build genuine relationships and the mom’s community support network expands greatly.
A family advocate helps mom with practical support like financial planning, job and career navigation, transportation, and childcare.
When mom and her child(ren) transition to permanent housing, they build on a strong foundation with new friends.
Volunteers and donors make it all happen.
We refer to the process as a ‘stone soup’, the parable on sharing where everyone pitches in a little to make a meal for all to enjoy.
Where
Hospitality Houses have a rich and long history stretching back to the xenodochiums (xenia- stranger, dochium- house) in the early Christian church.
Hospitality Houses Network is based in Asheville, NC. Our first production facility is located in a warehouse along the beautiful French Broad River. We are expanding to additional regions across the US with new communities underway in Ohio and Indiana.
Program Overview
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Concept
Host small families in a compact dwelling in your backyard (an Accessory Dwelling Unit in zoning language) for up to 2 years over a 10-year period. Provide friendship and support to these families (not case management). After the 10 years, the compact dwelling is yours to keep.
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Units
The 2024 model compact dwelling is 24’ by 16’ with an outside dimension of 29’x21’ (includes a 5’ wrap-around deck) and living area of 384’ square feet plus a loft. The unit is complete with an ADA compliant bathroom, bedroom, and combined kitchen, living, and dining area. The permitted structures are built on-site and local building inspectors review the site work and connections to municipal water, sewer and electrical service. The units are permanently installed on a conventional foundation. These are not manufactured homes or Tiny Houses on wheels. The interior space is comparable to a one-bedroom apartment in a modern urban apartment building.
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Legal Structure
The program works by the homeowner entering into a ground lease for the small land area in the backyard with Hospitality Houses. Hospitality Houses pays a ground lease payment of $1 per year for a 10-year term. Hospitality Houses technically owns the compact dwelling unit that sits on that land, and is responsible for casualty insurance, unit maintenance and the lease arrangement with renters, and all the details of that person’s eligibility in the program.