Racine tiny-home village adds four homes for veterans, expands to 20

Four new homes are now open at the James A. Peterson Veteran Village on Yout Street in Racine, pushing the veteran tiny-home community to 20 units and marking its biggest expansion since it opened in 2014. The added homes went live just ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, giving Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin a fresh round of capacity at a site that has become one of the most closely watched tiny-house projects in Wisconsin.

The timing mattered because the need was already outpacing the supply. Executive director Michael Remblasaki said, "we have a waiting list now of 10 people trying to get in here." That queue turns the ribbon cutting into more than a ceremonial opening: these are transitional-living homes for homeless veterans who are still trying to secure stable footing.

The village’s footprint is larger than the homes themselves. Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin says residents have access to a 24/7 community center with bathrooms, showers, laundry, a full kitchen, a group therapy area, and recreation space, along with help connected to veterans’ benefits, job readiness, and life skills. The homes themselves were donated by the Walsh Group, underscoring how much projects like this rely on private and local support to keep growing.

The Racine village has been building toward this moment for years. Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin says the organization started as a group of volunteers in 2013, then expanded in 2017 to include a village of 15 tiny homes. In May, Racine’s Planning, Heritage and Design Commission recommended approval of a conditional-use amendment that would allow nine more transitional-living homes on top of the 15 already in place. That proposal set the stage for the latest jump in capacity, even as the current opening brought the village to 20 homes.

Early coverage of the Racine site described it as the first tiny-home village of its kind in the country, and the project has remained a reference point because it is still adding doors instead of just talking about them. The new homes show the same pressure that built the village in the first place: more veterans need a place to land, and Racine is still trying to make room.