Organization wants to build tiny community

Bernita Taylor has big plans for tiny houses.

Taylor, founder and CEO of MIGHT, wants to transform the playground of Country Club Heights Park into a community of tiny homes for homeless teens and those who have aged out of the foster care system. Taylor said there is a great need for tiny houses to serve a growing population of homeless teens aged 18-24.

“When they age out of foster care, they really don’t have a place to go,” she said. “Now they are adults, and they don’t have a place to go. Now they have to figure out where their meals are coming from and where to stay. Some of them are really, really afraid.”

She cites statistics that show Lawton Public Schools has hundreds of homeless teens along with a growing population of teens who age out of foster care. A community of tiny homes to serve such teens has proven popular in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, she said.

The City of Lawton is looking to dispose of Country Club Heights Park on Southwest 45th Street as part of its plan to reduce its parks inventory. Taylor sees this as a perfect opportunity to acquire the property she needs for a grouping of up to 32 tiny homes, to be built in phases of five houses at a time.

Taylor is quick to point out that the occupants of these tiny houses will not be delinquents and will undergo a vetting process before they are approved to occupy a tiny house.

“These kids are not coming out of juvenile detention,” she said. “They need a hand up. They still need some arms around them and hands under their arms to tell them they can make it.”

MIGHT will not only offer a place for these teens to live; the organization also will offer lessons in life skills. Occupants will be required to either attend school or get a job, both of which MIGHT will assist with. One of the first structures to be built will be a community center where teens will have access to clothes, case management classes and other life skills classes. Residents also will be taught how to clean.

And the units will be inspected once a week to make sure they are clean, Taylor said.

Taylor envisions that the complex will be a gated community with a curfew and security measures in place. Tenants will have to sign a contract saying they agree with the policies and procedures of the community.

Part of the reason for the safety measures is because Taylor wants the tiny houses community to continue to be good neighbors in the residential neighborhood. Projects in Oklahoma City and Tulsa are located in existing neighborhoods and have not reported any problems, she said.

“We want them to learn how to be good neighbors,” she said.

The young occupants won’t be living rent free, either. Taylor said the residents will be required to pay rent, and to pay it on time. Though the rent will be nominal, Taylor said it is an important lesson. She doesn’t want the occupants to go from paying no rent to $500 a month for their first apartment.

The goal of the program is to set the teens up for success in life. Nor will they be able to stay permanently in the tiny homes. Residents will age out at about age 24.

“The kids usually stay a couple of years then come to us and say ‘I’m ready to leave’,” she said. “It’s more ‘You taught me, I get it and I’m ready’.”

At that point a case manager will help them find a place of their own. Counseling will be available to help them know what kind of apartment they want and what they can afford.

Although some grants are available for the project, Taylor is looking for sponsors. She said some people may want to sponsor an entire house or may have a street named after them.

She plans to name the project The Passage.

“This is to build not only a community, but lives,” she said.