Richmond Tiny-Home Village Advances for Disabled and Homeless Residents

Richmond’s Eden Village tiny-home project has finally started moving again after a long pause, and the latest shift is concrete: permits and surveys are done, the architect is finishing the site plan, and the nonprofit says the project is inching from concept toward construction on five acres off Chamberlayne Avenue.

The plan calls for more than 30 tiny homes for disabled and chronically homeless residents on land Richmond City Council sold last year for $100. That low-cost land deal gave the project a real foothold, but it did not solve the harder part of the work. The village still had to get through the kind of planning and paperwork that often stall affordable-housing efforts for months or years.

Founder Cathy Ritter said those hurdles were one of the reasons the project had remained stuck. Now, with the surveys and permits completed, the effort has moved into a more visible phase. For tiny-house advocates, that matters. A village like this is not just a cluster of small homes. It needs utility hookups, a workable site plan, common space, and a structure that can support residents who need more than a roof.

Funding is still the big test. Ritter said the nonprofit had raised $289,000 through sponsorships so far, and Eden Village is widening its “Sponsor a Home” effort so donors can help pay for infrastructure as well as individual units. That is the part many people outside the tiny-home world miss. The homes get the attention, but the water, sewer, power, shared spaces, and long-term support costs are what decide whether a village actually opens and stays open.

Eden Village says its mission is to restore dignity for people facing housing instability and health challenges, and it has framed the need in Richmond as part of a broader public-health emergency. If the group closes the financing gap and finishes the remaining entitlements, the project would stand as a clear example of how a city-owned parcel and nonprofit fundraising can be paired to create permanent, support-oriented housing.

For now, the milestones that matter are plain enough: final site approval, full financing, and construction on the Chamberlayne Avenue property. Until those pieces lock together, the village is still a plan. Once they do, Richmond will have something far more tangible, a small-home community built for residents who need stability as much as shelter.