Community First Village

Designing supportive housing for the chronically homeless

Outside of Austin, a uniquely resilient community has formed to make a lasting impact in the lives of formerly homeless individuals. The Christian organization, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, started by placing chronically homeless individuals in permanent housing across the city. The resources provided to these individuals went beyond financial needs. Mobile Loaves & Fishes provided counseling, connected individuals with the health care they needed, advised on signing leases, discussed spiritual needs, assisted with nutrition, etc. These efforts were very successful! This success prompted Mobile Loaves & Fishes to consider how they could expand their services and provide housing to more people.

In 2014, Mobile Loaves & Fishes broke ground on a plot of land outside of Austin to build a new community from scratch. They built a dense community of tiny houses, with shared restrooms and kitchens. The tiny houses were made available through their application process. The formerly homeless individuals placed in these homes pay rent with funds they can earn through work opportunities onsite or through their own employment. Mobile Loaves & Fishes works with each individual so they feel ownership and inclusion in the community.

To qualify as chronically homeless, a person must have experienced homelessness for at least one year and currently struggle with a disabling condition. The disabling condition may be one or several of the following: serious mental illness, substance abuse, or a physical disability.

In February, the representatives of the Young Architects Forum and the National Associates Committee met in Austin. We toured the Community First Village and saw the way individuals have thrived. The original village of tiny homes has expanded with a section of RVs and more tiny homes. The village has also broken ground on a second phase which adds 24 acres to the original 27 acre community. Phase II will add 310 homes that are either pre-fabricated, custom built by contractors donating their labor, or built by volunteers during day-long intensive builds. The village includes shared facilities for worship, commercial kitchens, gardens, mechanics shop, craft studio, and other facilities that allow community members to work and earn an income. Several missionals from the Mobile Loaves & Fishes community have elected to live among the formerly homeless and personally connect with the community members. Visitors are welcome to tour the facility and pay for car maintenance, local art, or concessions during outdoor movies.

This interview of two architects captures the thoughts and process behind some of the unique designs that are implemented at Community First Village.


Sarah Satterlee, AIA
Satterlee is the staff architect at Community First Village. She has lived in Community First Village for two and a half years and has firsthand experience with the benefits and challenges of the intimate community.

Beau Frail, AIA, NCARB
Frail founded his own firm, Activate Architecture in Austin. His practice provides design services and leads community engagement for projects aiming to make a positive impact.


Katie Kangas (KK): How did you initially become involved with the Community First Village (CFV)?

Sarah Satterlee (SS): I was interested in public interest design. I was connected with Community First Village through Our Community Corps, a service-learning apprenticeship program. It was a position to live and work in CFV for a few months. At the end of volunteering, they offered me a job. I started in property management, and I learned the ins and outs of how to operate a place like CFV. When CFV moved into Phase II of the site plan and building process, they realized they needed an architect to manage the consecutive construction projects.

I have learned what it takes to run a village. I’m learning every day. Everything we do here is new, so much has never been done before. We are currently building a “Community Work Entrepreneur Hub” for our Community Works program. We like to encourage diversified income in the fine arts, ceramics, arts & crafts, etc. Our e-commerce program is also launching soon. Our construction team is coordinating the volunteers, contractors, and construction and installation of homes in Phase II. We will be at a total of 50 homes by the end of May. Our goal is to move in 10 neighbors each month.

Beau Frail (BF): I became involved with CFV through AIA Austin’s Design Voice Committee. I was part of the team that led the first design competition in 2015 and have helped advise on future initiatives. In 2018, Design Voice led a post occupancy interview of residents and staff living onsite. This resulted in recommendations for the existing designs, such as CFV residents’ requests for more storage in micro-homes, the importance of individual privacy and safety, increased access to bathroom and kitchen spaces, and the need for air conditioning retrofits in the micro-homes.

CFV Phase II is currently under construction and Design Voice led the design charette which was an RFQ process for local architecture teams to work hand-in-hand with existing residents living in Phase I. Some of these Phase I residents will transition as ‘seed neighbors’ to Phase II, where they will welcome new residents and continue the community culture into the new phase. Each new home model was designed in collaboration with existing residents and will be built multiple times for additional neighbors. The 5 architecture teams chosen from the RFQ process started meeting with residents in 2019. During the charrette process, each design team worked with their client, a CFV resident, to discuss imagery and decide on priorities for their new home. The design teams then presented to their residents and responded to feedback through three follow up meetings. This models a participatory design process that allows the formerly homeless community to give direct input on designs and be actively involved in shaping the CFV vision.



KK: What was your role? How has that evolved?

SS: I have been living onsite for 2 1/2 years as the Staff Architect. My role is similar to a campus architect. I manage the design and construction processes as well as the overall site plan and building development. I manage the community effort of multiple architects and landscape architects. I work with the Director of Construction to transition these design services into construction. The process of iterating on designs has been a lot of fun!

BF: In 2017, I started in a facilitatory role with the Open Architecture Collaboration. We talked with residents during weekly community dinners to develop planning suggestions. We developed a proposal for integrating the RVs with the original Phase 1 by building micro-homes on the RV site to blend the designs. I’m now volunteering through design charrettes that propose inserting larger micro-homes (larger tiny homes that have their own bathroom and kitchen) into smaller micro-home groupings to allow missional members to live in sync with the residents. We want to blend housing types and people. We are also working on a path through the RV section of the site to connect Phase I with Phase II.

KK: How does Community First Village model sustainable practices?

BF: The compact nature of the homes helps with sustainability. There are shared kitchens that are shaded and open for natural ventilation. These create an organic arm in the middle of the community and encourage pedestrian environments. Phase 1 tried to orient homes so that a porch relates to at least 2 neighboring porches. These spaces tie people together. However, we all need a sense of privacy, so neighbors have the interior of their home. The porch used to be the cool area of the home, oriented to capture summer breezes passively. Over the years some high efficiency VRF units have been installed to further condition the homes. Neighbors can still use their porch and operable windows to save money by shutting off the AC. The community is naturally sustainable because they live with shared resources.

SS: Our goal is to build homes that last a long time and do not use up a lot of resources. We try to reduce energy consumption with insulation. We have also become a testing ground for experimental constructio methods, such as 3D printed homes. It is exciting to be part of making innovative building technology available to traditionally marginalized communities. We also host volunteer projects for installing photovoltaics or rain water collectors.

Our entire site is designed to be a community. It encourages micro-localism. If we can meet our neighbors’ needs within our community, they do not have to drive across town or ride the bus to get something. There are efficiencies within our community culture that are unique to our neighbors. For example, if you have extra food, you just offer it to a neighbor. If you are out of something, you ask a neighbor rather than running to a store.



KK: What is the environmental impact of CFV and micro-home design?

SS: The way CFV was developed to create urban density with detached homes is an example of good stewardship and an efficient land use. Even though we build individual homes to better accommodate our neighbors’ specific privacy and health needs, our density is similar to traditional urban infill.The design of the micro-home and need to use shared facilities encourages people to live outside in their community.

BF: The homes are designed to be durable and low maintenance. They have a plywood interior instead of gypsum board, which is more resilient and lowers maintenance costs.

KK: How can other architects approach these conversations and create change in their local community?

SS: Be a visionary, use your abilities as an architect to imagine what could be. Don’t let existing urban strategies and prescriptive codes limit how we imagine our communities. Think outside the box in design solutions for how people can do life together.

I encourage people to be ENGAGED in their community. Volunteer with people who are different from you. I have had the privilege to live in this community and gain experience firsthand and that has come with benefits and challenges.

BF: See how you can engage with your community. I wrote an article on “Seven Steps to Improve Communities” that addresses this exact question. Mobile Loaves & Fishes hosts a conference (Symposium for Goodness’ Sake) for others to learn from their model and hopefully replicate similar communities in their cities. I encourage you to work through an existing program, such as One Plus, or start an in-house pro-bono initiative within your own firm. Don’t pass all the responsibility to public officials to address the social needs in your community. Take it on yourself to ask how you can help your neighbors and invite others to collaborate with organizations like CFV already doing good work in your community.

KK: Living in Community First Village, how has COVID-19 impacted your community?

SS: Quarantining in a community has a high risk but also a high reward. The high reward is that extroverts, like myself, can continue social interactions through social distancing. The acreage of our site is set up for social distancing. There is a lot of room outside for people to walk around.
We have had to overcome several challenges, including increased cleaning and sanitization of shared spaces. There are usually hundreds of volunteers coming on site to the Village every week, but now the property is currently closed to any outside visitors as we navigate the challenges posed by the health crisis. Our neighbors used to lead those groups of volunteers as a source of dignified income, so we have increased opportunities for income in other areas. We started offering meals so each neighbor has a hot meal every day. We also deliver donations of packaged food to reduce the need for residents to travel or take the bus. Our community garden delivers fresh produce and eggs to neighbors every week, which has also helped when food is difficult to access.

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Author Bio:

Katie Kangas, AIA, NCARB
Kangas founded her firm Pasque Architecture in March. She is building a process-centered practice to serve small communities and rural towns. Kangas is the Young Architect Regional Director for the North Central States Region.