A former Tulsa businessman has erected tiny homes at several locations around the Tulsa metro to drum up interest in a project he’s taken on called Eden Village Tulsa.
Based on a successful program in Springfield, Missouri, Eden Village will consist of more than five dozen small houses, also known as “tiny homes,” which will stand on 17 acres of land along the west bank of the Arkansas River - land, Johnson says, which has lain fallow and unused for the city’s entire history.
You can hear KRMG’s In-Depth Report on Brad Johnson and Eden Village HERE.
Eden village will consist of more than just a collection of small houses.
Johnson says the goal is to provide permanent, low-cost homes for people who have suffered chronic homelessness.
That will mean providing the services many of them will need to help stabilize their lives.
“We’ve got to surround them with all the help that they need, from service providers,” Johnson told KRMG, “mental health, physical health, substance abuse.”
Those services will be housed in a community center he calls the “hub of the community.”
Johnson has gone to great lengths to set up models of the homes they’ll erect in Eden Village at various locations around the metro, to drum up interest in - and support for - the Eden Village concept.
Current locations are: Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church, near 71st and Lewis; Abiding Harvest Church at Olive and Waco in Broken Arrow; and this weekend, at the 2023 Spring Home & Outdoor Living Expo at the Tulsa fairgrounds.
Johnson says they’ll have a fourth model at Smith Farm and Garden in a few weeks.
He stresses that the residents will pay rent - though it will be kept as affordable as possible, and currently runs $350 a month.
And his organization needs help to keep this project going, so he’s asking for volunteers and donations from anyone who can afford them.
As for himself, he tells KRMG, this is now his mission.
“This wasn’t on my bucket list a few years ago, I can assure you,” he said. “But here I am, at 69 years of age. Should be retired - but I’m repurposed.”
To learn more, you can visit the Eden Village Tulsa website HERE.