A minimum for life

(Austin, Texas) The Blair Philippe Racine living room wall is lined with photos: souvenirs of visitors posing with this man with a long white beard and colored shirts. Groups of young volunteers. Parents with their newborn.

“That’s my family,” he said, smiling. My biological family has never really been my family, so it’s my backward family. »»

The shots brighten up the white walls of its 37 m mobile house^⁠2 (400 ft^⁠2). The living room is separated from the bedroom by a kitchenette and a bathroom.

At 71, Mr. Racine considers himself “blessed” to live in the Community First! Village. He moved there in 2018, after four years in the streets of the city center of Austin. The minne of origin – which proudly underlines the French ancestor having given it its surname – worked in the real estate sector, but lost everything shortly after its move to Texas, in 2013.

Like a village

Like him, 475 former homeless people live in the Community First! Village. For a few hundred dollars a month, tenants can settle in a minimum of 11.6 m^⁠2 (125 ft^⁠2), using bathrooms and common kitchens, or in a mobile home with plumbing.

The community is organized as a village on an old 0.21 km ranch^⁠2 (51 acres) in the northeast of Austin. With asphalt streets – with the names evoking the religious mission of its founder, such as Goodness (goodness) and Peace and Mercy (peace and mercy) – a greenhouse, an outdoor cinema, common rooms for group meals or to play board games, an art studio. A garden, with chickens and vegetables, has been set up in a park.

A bus stop in the city is located in front of the convenience store and the health care center. Otherwise, to move from one place to another in the “village”, the residents can climb aboard “Gus, The Goodness Bus”, an eight -seat golf cart drawing its name from an animated character.

More than a roof

The man behind the project, Alan Graham, founded the non-profit organization mobile Loaves and Fishess in 1998, first to distribute food to the homeless of the Texan capital. Fervent Catholic, the former real estate entrepreneur felt invested with this mission after a spiritual retirement. Also influenced by family difficulties: his mother, suffering from mental health problems, has multiplied stays in the hospital during her childhood and her brother suffers from outbuildings.

“No family is exempt from this type of problem, but most manage to keep their members safe,” said the 69 -year -old man with a firm look. But a small percentage experiences a deep break with the family and finds itself on the street. »»

The solution appeared to him Claire: offering not only a roof to the homeless, but also a community.

Except that it did not go smoothly.

In 2006, he launched the idea of a park of mobile houses. The city of Austin has agreed to rent municipal land to Mr. Graham, but residents of the sector opposed it.

The mobile organization Loaves and Fishes, largely funded by private donations, has finally acquired its own land. No neighbor, at the time, to oppose it, the site being located in a new subdivision. The first tenant moved in 2015.

Objective: 1900 tenants

On the other side of the road where the entrance to Community First is located! Village, workers were busy on new units during the passage of The pressat the beginning of June. This is the third phase of the project, with new houses that will accommodate some 80 new people at the end of the summer. Ultimately, in 2030, the organization hoped to accommodate 1900 tenants throughout the site.

The cohabitation between residents is not always easy, but is not really more complicated than elsewhere, assures Mr. Graham. He himself has lived on the spot for eight years, with his wife and their dog.

To obtain a place at the Community First! Village, candidates must submit their criminal history. People found guilty of sexual assault are automatically excluded. Sobriety is not a prerequisite, even if the organization recalls on its site that residents must respect the laws, including those on the possession and distribution of narcotics. Even if Mobile Loaves and Fishes is a Christian organization, he specifies that all people are welcome, regardless of their faith.

Volunteers at the heart of the community

Richard Gonzales waited for several months on a waiting list. He moved into a minimum a few weeks ago.

“It is correct, here,” he said, “toasting chicken breasts in a cast iron pan of the common outdoor kitchen. “There is good and bad, like everywhere, but it is much better than many other places. There are conflicts sometimes, but it is quite calm in general, ”adds the 48 -year -old man.

A little further, in a large air -conditioned room where chairs and tables, adolescents of a Christian camp were arranged preparing sandwiches for residents.

Groups of volunteers, as well as punctual visitors, are part of the vision of Community First! Village, which even has a rental airbnb type accommodation and missionaries living on site.

“It is to help people who live here or to help other people have the same model,” explains M^me Grenail.

The project has been emulated in Arkansas, California and Colorado, in particular, to combat the growing problem of roaming.

Aging in the village

Community First! Village is not a temporary refuge. But the aging of the population brings its share of challenges, particularly for minimaons devoid of plumbing.

He estimates that, good year, the community, the community loses 15 % of its residents. And that 40 % of this figure is due to deaths, life expectancy among people who lived in the street being lower than in the general population. A house on the site is used for palliative care. A Columbarium was also installed near the heart of the Community First! Village.

“There is no doubt in my mind that I will stay here for the rest of my life,” said Mr. Racine. And I’m very proud of that. »»