Community First! Village provides tiny homes and supportive services for chronically unhoused Austinites

September 27, 2026

Alan Graham, founder and CEO of Mobile Loaves & Fishes, moves slowly through Community First! Village, greeting neighbors as he makes rounds in a golf cart. At 70 years old he lives on the property near the center of the community, and he balances daily work at the on-site nonprofit headquarters with interactions that often extend short trips across the street.

Gardens and communal spaces are active even in summer heat, with residents using outdoor kitchens and gathering areas. The village blends private tiny homes with shared amenities intended to encourage frequent, low-stakes encounters among neighbors.

Graham built the community around a belief that lasting pathways out of chronic homelessness depend on rebuilding social ties and stable relationships. The village serves people who meet the federal definition of chronic homelessness, a designation for those with serious disabilities who have been unhoused for extended or repeated periods.

Homes in the village run about 200 to 400 square feet and each includes a porch or patio to foster neighborly interaction. The design aims to deliver more than shelter, focusing on permanence, orientation, safety, and a sense of belonging as part of turning houses into homes.

Community First! offers a range of on-site services and activities. The site includes a stocked pond, a weekly farmers market, an on-site clinic, a chapel, a dog park, and an outdoor movie space established with help from Alamo Drafthouse. The village also provides paths to earn income, helping support a local economy inside the neighborhood.

An on-site Entrepreneur Hub supports crafts and small businesses. One resident works with clay and sells goods through a boutique on the property that carries handcrafted items and Mobile Loaves & Fishes merchandise. Staff, volunteers and neighbors prepare seasonal markets and a holiday lights display that draw visitors each year.

Mobile Loaves & Fishes began in 1998 delivering meals across Austin, and by 2004 the group had started placing formerly homeless people into private RVs. Graham drew on those experiences, and on communal models such as KOA campgrounds, to shape a mixed-housing village where daily shared spaces encourage connection.

Plans for the village faced local opposition when the project was considered for sites within city limits, and organizers ultimately located the development on land northeast of Austin. The site opened in 2015 with a mix of RVs and micro homes clustered around shared outdoor kitchens, and the community now occupies a larger, roughly 51-acre campus.