Habitat for Humanity plans five tiny homes in Ojai for local families

Five tiny homes on 408-410 North Montgomery Street could do more than add units in Ojai. Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County is treating the Montgomery Street Tiny Homes project as a real test of whether small-footprint ownership can work for local families shut out of the traditional market.

The project sits on city-owned land at the corner of Montgomery Street and Franklin Drive, south of Grand Avenue, on a parcel of about one-fifth of an acre. Ojai City Council gave preliminary approval in May 2024 for Habitat to develop and manage five affordable tiny homes there, and city records now show approval of a design review permit and tentative tract map. Construction is expected to begin in summer 2026. The plan calls for two tiny-home duplexes and one single-family home, a mix that keeps the project small while still pushing the site toward a full five-home buildout.

Habitat Ventura says the homes are meant to provide long-term housing stability for families priced out of the market. Future buyers will participate through Habitat’s sweat-equity model, helping build their own homes or the homes of others in the program. Darcy Taylor, Habitat Ventura’s CEO, told planners the project is designed to serve seniors, veterans and low-income homebuyers. Taylor also said Habitat prefers a land-lease model in which the City of Ojai keeps ownership of the land while Habitat owns and maintains the homes under long-term agreements.

That structure has already put the project through a more formal public process than a typical tiny-house build. Ventura County meeting materials described the proposal as one single-family home of about 1,100 square feet and four tiny homes of about 510 square feet each, all part of a five-unit, deed-restricted, 100% affordable housing project. Planning staff said the five-unit count matters because it qualifies the project for density-bonus incentives; dropping to four units would strip away those statutory benefits and change the review path. During planning commission discussion, residents and commissioners raised parking, notification, maintenance and traffic-safety concerns at Franklin and Montgomery.

Habitat has also tied the Ojai project to its broader community efforts. Women Build 2026, presented by Bank of America, was held March 7, 2026, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. as part of the organization’s local housing push. With the city land, the deed restrictions and the ownership model now aligned, the Montgomery Street project looks less like a novelty than a compact blueprint for how tiny-house infill might fit into a high-cost California market.