Faith & Fostering fundraiser aims to build Shreveport tiny home village

A young woman aging out of foster care could move from uncertainty to a place with her own front door, her own furnishings and a supervisor next door under Faith & Fostering’s Shreveport tiny-home plan. The nonprofit used its first-ever fundraiser to push the project from a mission statement into a buildable housing site off the Bert Kouns corridor, aimed at young women ages 18 to 24 who are experiencing homelessness or housing instability.

Faith & Fostering says the village is meant for residents who often leave foster care with no family connection, no ID, and no stable plan. Barbara Lewis, who works in community relations, has said that some youth age out at 18 essentially on their own, a reality shaped in part by her own foster-care background and by watching a sister leave the system with almost no support. That experience helped steer the project toward women and young women with children who need more than a bed for the night.

The concept is specific and unusually detailed for a tiny-home proposal. Faith & Fostering’s materials describe a community of 12 to 18 fully furnished units, with the current plan showing 10 one-bedroom homes and 2 two-bedroom homes. The village would also include on-site supervision, utilities, fencing, driveway work and stormwater work, with an estimated total completion cost in the high hundreds of thousands of dollars. A prior KTAL report said the development would also include a chapel, laundry center and recreational space.

That mix matters because the site is not being framed as emergency shelter. Faith & Fostering describes it as a refuge for young women and young women with children, with a dedicated site supervisor living on the property. The nonprofit says the village would pair housing with life-skills training, mentorship, help obtaining vital records and other basics needed for independent living, all aimed at helping residents move toward employment and long-term stability.

The fundraiser also marks a new phase for an organization that has been building its support network since 2020. Faith & Fostering was officially recognized as a nonprofit in March 2020, then placed its first young adult in a Bossier City apartment in July 2020 and added a donated three-bedroom, two-bath home that October for three more young adults and a resident supervisor. Today, the nonprofit says it serves homeless young adults ages 18 to 24 with housing, basic-needs support, volunteers, counseling, group sessions, work-readiness help, job search and retention support, post-secondary education assistance, financial assistance and academic coaching. The Shreveport tiny-home village is the next concrete step in that work.