Jericho Village opens in Wylie, bringing affordable housing to families

Jericho Village opened at 511 Brown Street in Wylie on June 25, bringing 38 affordable homes to a 2.46-acre site. By the time of the grand opening, more than 15 residents had already moved in.

The development was built to serve families and women facing homelessness, abuse and housing instability, with rents tied to income and on-site support services meant to help residents stabilize and eventually become self-sustaining. The homes come in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts inside multiplex buildings, alongside a community center, community garden, outdoor living areas and a playground. The location puts residents across from childcare and an elementary school and within a short bike ride of Downtown Wylie and the Collin College campus.

Jericho Village is not limited to one type of household. About 40% of the units are reserved for Agape graduates, while 60% are set aside for Wylie households, including local workforce families such as teachers, firefighters and bus drivers. The support model includes childcare, transportation, workforce training, financial literacy programs and counseling, a package aimed at helping residents move from crisis housing toward stability.

Agape Resource & Assistance Center is the Plano-based nonprofit Janet Collinsworth founded in 2013 after a 30-year CPA career. More than 90% of the women and children Agape serves are abuse survivors, and more than 75% graduate with increased income and stability. In 2022, Agape was expanding its continuum of care in Collin County, and a later update listed an $860,000 grant from the Mabee Foundation for construction. The project’s cost was $7 million.

Wylie city-council materials identify Jericho Village as meeting community development goals by sustaining affordable housing and reducing household cost burden. Jericho Village materials list 61,000 county residents at or below the poverty line, 8,000 families on the brink of homelessness, 300 shelter beds countywide and 4,000 people turned away each year, including 3,000 women with children. National Low Income Housing Coalition counts a 7.2 million shortage of affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters in the United States.