New $3M Marietta tiny home community in the works for homeless students

MARIETTA, Ga. - A group of people from several non-profit organizations have come up with a plan to help homeless students in Marietta. They're planning to build a tiny home village.

"I think for a lot of us that live in this community, it's just heart-wrenching," said Kevin Pounds, who works for MUST Ministries and is helping to develop the tiny home village.

Pounds says there are more than 500 unhoused students who attend Marietta schools, and more than 1900 at Cobb County schools. 

"Some of them may live for a season in our emergency shelter at MUST. Some of them may live in a minivan in the Walmart parking lot for weeks at a time. Some of them are living in the extended stay," said Pounds.

Molly Holm, the owner of Glory Haus, a home decor company in Marietta, wanted to help. She gathered folks from non-profits and the faith-based community and decided to build 15 tiny homes for students and their families on land right behind her business on Cobb Parkway. 

It will be called Emmanuel's Village.

"Emmanuel means God is with us. For many of the homeless, they feel like the community's given up on them, their families have given up on them. Some even feel like God's given up on them. We just want these families to know we care about them, and God cares about them, and they're not forgotten," said Pounds.

Families will be able to live in these homes from several months to more than a year and a half. It's transitional housing that will move them from survival mode to stability.

The tiny home village will cost about $3 million to build. Marietta city leaders gave the go ahead for the project in late December and donations are already starting to come in.

"A lot of the churches in the area are stepping up to contribute, as well as a lot of people who make up those churches," said Pounds.

The importance of projects like this becomes very clear on cold winter nights like metro Atlanta is experiencing this week, when families are seeking shelter at warming centers. 

"Those people lining up at the shelter represent people who have hit rock bottom. They have nowhere else to go, and this is kind of an upstream solution to prevent families from getting in that situation," said Pounds. 

Emmanuel's Village will also have a playground and gardens, turning it into not just a home, but a community. Construction on the homes could begin by the summer.