Project Details
Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
Located in Olympia,
Washington, Quixote Village is a two-acre community
of tiny houses and a common building that provides permanent, supportive housing
for homeless adults, including people suffering from mental illness and
physical disabilities and recovering from addiction.
Completed in December 2013,
the village is comprised of thirty cottages wrapping
around a central open space and retention ponds, along with a 2,640 square foot
building that houses a communal kitchen and gathering room, showers and laundry
facilities, staff offices, and a meeting room. Each compact, 144-square foot
house provides just enough room for a single bed, a desk and chair, powder room,
and closet. Front porches encourage interaction and contribute to the sense of
community, as do personalized decorations and small “door gardens” at the
entries of many cottages.
The concept for
Quixote Village emerged from a group of homeless adults that formed a
self-governing tent community in a parking lot in downtown Olympia in 2007 in
reaction to a new city ordinance forbidding the blocking of doorways and
storefronts. After the City of Olympia threatened to remove the camp, a local
church offered to host the community on its grounds. The city passed another
ordinance regulating “temporary camps” and requiring the presence of onsite, 24/7
“hosts,” and the removal of the camp after three months. Over time, seven faith
communities in Olympia and the adjoining cities of Tumwater and Lacey stepped
forward to organize volunteers and host what became known as “Camp Quixote,” as
it moved more than twenty times over seven years.
Panza, a nonprofit organization
named for Sancho Panza, Don Quixote’s faithful servant in the novel by
Cervantes, was formed to find and build a permanent place for Camp Quixote. Panza secured a plot of land from Thurston County in an
industrial park at the edge of Olympia, bordering the city of Tumwater. Garner Miller of MSGS Architects, a local architect and Camp Quixote volunteer, led a
series of workshops with camp residents that considered different design
options. These led to the “tiny house” idea—providing a basic, conditioned shelter
for each resident with shared bathing and cooking facilities rather than a room
or apartment within a larger building—and resulting building and site development.
Washington-based
Community
Frameworks served as the nonprofit affordable
housing developer, helping Panza with a feasibility study and development plan,
fundraising, design and construction, and property management. Financing for
the $2.6 million development was provided by Washington State Housing Trust, HUD Community Development Block Grants from Washington
State, the City of Olympia, Thurston County, and individual and private contributions
including donated professional services.
Like the
original camp, Quixote Village is self-governed, with Panza serving as the
legal landlord responsible for admitting and evicting residents. An executive
committee convenes weekly resident council meetings to address community
concerns and advise Panza on new applications. Each resident is expected to pay
one third of his or her monthly income as rent, participate in regular council
meetings, and share responsibilities for cleaning and maintaining common areas
and a shared vegetable garden and berry patch. Two full-time staff, a program
and facilities manager, and a resident advocate, provide support for the
community including property management, local transportation and programmed
activities, as well as individualized counseling that connects residents with education
and employment opportunities, local services, and state and federal government aid.
Panza and
other advocates for Quixote Village suggest that its design and self-governing
model offer a more cost effective and empowering alternative to traditional methods
for housing the homeless, especially in less urban settings. The per-unit cost was
about $88,000, approximately half the cost of a conventional studio apartment. It
has also dramatically improved the lives of its residents, providing permanent
shelter within a supportive and empowered community, enabling them to regain
their footing and pursue paths towards long-term personal stability. It has
also made an impact on the community as a whole. Hundreds of volunteers took
turns serving as camp “hosts” and moving the camp, getting to know residents
and forming friendships. According to more than one source, the village “has changed
the way our community thinks about homeless people and homelessness.” Since its
completion, Quixote Village has attracted the attention of many entities
interested in tiny houses including nonprofits, private developers, and the
media.
