The project, called OurCommunity, is being built on about 280 acres near Ferris, about 25 miles southeast of Dallas.
A bulldozer is seen near a rendering of OurCalling’s OurCommunity, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Ferris, Texas. OurCommunity will be a 500-tiny home neighborhood with full support for residents who need long-term care.
Christian nonprofit OurCalling broke ground Wednesday on a planned residential community for unhoused people that it says will include 500 tiny homes. The project, called OurCommunity, is being built on about 280 acres near Ferris, about 25 miles southeast of Dallas. The community will also have a chapel, medical clinic, cafe, mental health clinic and 24-hour security on-site, according to OurCalling. The facility is designed for homeless people who need wrap-around support beyond housing, including people who are elderly, living with terminal conditions or facing significant physical and cognitive health challenges, according to a news release.Formerly homeless people will be able to live in 400 one-bedroom tiny homes on the property, communications manager Ali Hendricksen said. Those units will be about 390 square feet each.The total estimated cost of the project is $70 million, and OurCalling has so far received donations from churches, foundations and individuals, Hendricksen said. OurCalling staff, volunteers and community supporters attended Wednesday’s groundbreaking event.Juliana Williams, chief advancement officer at OurCalling, said the group has already raised the $15 million needed to complete the first phase of the Ferris-area development.Williams said the first phase of the project covers the purchase of the land the facility is being built on, infrastructure including roads and utilities, and the community’s first neighborhood, slated to include 25 tiny homes. The first phase is scheduled for completion in late spring of next year.Wayne Walker, pastor and CEO of OurCalling, said during the groundbreaking that the community will fill a gap in services for unhoused people in Dallas who are unable to live and die with dignity. His group, which serves the homeless population in the Dallas area, often works with people who cannot live independently in the government-provided housing options currently available, he said. “There are individuals who cannot care for themselves anymore,” Walker said during the groundbreaking event. “They don’t have a nest egg to a retirement community.”Government options for homeless people with a lot of needs typically involve providing housing vouchers, a bus pass and monthly check-ins from a case worker, he said. For many people his group works with, that’s just not enough, Walker said. “Five days ago, I received a text from family of a young woman that died on the streets of Dallas,” he said in an interview before the ceremony. “We cared for her, helped her off the streets, got her into housing that wasn’t very supportive and watched her decline because of significant trauma challenges and physical challenges.” A place like OurCommunity would have enabled her to live longer and live with dignity, Walker said. His group works with over 2,000 people a year who similarly need long-term supportive care, he added. OurCalling CEO Wayne Walker speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for OurCalling’s OurCommunity, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Ferris, Texas. At the groundbreaking, Walker also emphasized OurCommunity aims to provide residents with not only housing, but community. Twenty percent of the residents in OurCommunity’s housing will not be people experiencing homelessness, but people who pay market-rate rent and act as “renters and community planners,” according to the release. Those residents will include seminary students, some from Dallas Theological Seminary; former missionaries, retirees and young families, according to Walker. “They need people that will care, that will show up, that will walk with them,” Walker said of unhoused people. “Housing alone will never solve homelessness.”Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.
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