HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Dauphin County nonprofit is opening a new community of tiny homes.
Theses home are located right off of Front Street in Harrisburg and were built by Veterans Outreach of Pennsylvania.
It calls the community Veterans Grove, and its goal is to provide housing for veterans experiencing homelessness.
The village has been under construction since June of 2023. It features 15 fully furnished tiny homes, which will provide temporary housing. The village will also feature a community center that offers therapeutic programs for residents.
According to the 2022 Homeless Point-In-Time Survey by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, there are 778 veterans experiencing homelessness in Pennsylvania and 75 in the Capitol Region.
However, organizers at Veterans Outreach of Pennsylvania say over 300 veterans needed housing in the area in 2023.
Clinical directors say their goal is to tackle the root causes of veteran homelessness in order to get them back on their feet.
"Pulling them out of that isolation and putting them into that group is a really powerful way to have them forge connections with each other and have those meaningful experiences that will help them be successful when they leave," said Angel McLaughlin, a clinical director at Veterans Outreach of Pennsylvania.
The tiny homes will open their doors to the first group of veterans on June 10.
On Thursday, the organization will hold a ribbon-cutting at Veterans Grove.