Council on Aging of West Florida will host an open house event May 24 at 2 p.m. to showcase the second tiny house for a project funded by a $50,000 AARP Community Challenge Grant. Local dignitaries and housing advocates will be in attendance to offer remarks. The project, which began June 2022, purchased two tiny home units and gave each unit to a senior in need of affordable housing.
Why it matters: The project aims to showcase the possibilities of one nontraditional, attainable housing solution that is affordable to lower-income older adults, many of whom live on a fixed income that hasn’t risen with the level of inflation and rental price increases.
Dig Deeper: The homes are manufactured by the Tennessee-based company Incredible Tiny Homes and the project utilizes their innovative and highly customizable 128-square-foot Incred-I-Box model, which cost $20,000 each. Pensacola Habitat for Humanity and the Pensacola State College carpentry program have partnered on the project and supported efforts to get the units move-in ready.
“Our community is desperately in need of more housing options,” says Council on Aging marketing communications director Emily Echevarria, who spearheads the project. “We hope this project will continue the ongoing discussion about housing solutions and be an impetus for changes that allow for more flexibility in zoning and ordinances that limit housing development.”
The AARP Community Challenge is a grant program to make tangible improvements in communities that jump-start long-term change. It is part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative, which supports the efforts of cities, towns, neighborhoods, and rural areas to become great places to live for people of all ages. The grant award was one of 260 awards out of 3,200 applications for quick action livability projects that align with community age-friendly efforts. To learn more, visit aarp.org/Livable.
