Work is set to begin this summer on Springfield’s third community to house the chronically homeless. The Gathering Tree Inc. broke ground for Eden Village 3 Nov. 30, 2022 at 2419 W. High in the Tom Watkins neighborhood.
The Gathering Tree Inc.’s Eden Village 3 will be a duplex tiny home community located at 2419 W. High in the Tom Watkins neighborhood. The site is already zoned for duplexes, said Chief Visionary Officer Nate Schlueter.
“We’ll hopefully start clearing land in July and complete the first phase, which will be 24 400-square-foot units,” by the end of 2023,” said Chief Visionary Officer Nate Schlueter.
Each unit will have one bedroom and one bathroom. The community itself will be modeled after Eden Village 2 in the Bissett neighborhood, which is a gated community with security cameras, a community center, tornado shelter and a neighborhood council. Eden Village 2 is an active member of the Bissett Neighborhood Association, allowing the association to use its community center for neighborhood association meetings and participating in the annual neighborhood cleanups.
The Gathering Tree has a waiting list of more than 200 people for the tiny homes. The organization has a multistep process for determining who gets a home in the communities. Precedence is given to the terminally ill and veterans, Schlueter said.
“Our residents must have been homeless for a year and have the ability to pay rent,” he said.
He noted that The Gathering Tree looks forward to building a relationship with Tom Watkins neighbors similar to how Eden Village 2, which opened in 2020, has with Bissett neighbors. Eden Village 1 opened in 2018 at 2801 E. Division. Each unit costs about $45,000. The Gathering Tree seeks sponsors for each home in the Eden Village communities, which are not limited to Springfield.
Schlueter said the organization has “franchised” communities in Wilmington, North Carolina; Kansas City, Kansas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Mountain Home, Arkansas; Excelsior Springs; Phoenix, Arizona; Richmond, Virginia; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Warrenton, Virginia.
“Our villages are now a proven model, so they have gotten easier and easier to bring forward,” Schlueter said. “We look forward to working with our neighbors in Tom Watkins.”