This podcast examines solutions to address the issue of homelessness in the urban environment. Todd Ferry, an architect and senior research associate at Portland State University’s Center for Public Interest Design, discusses building communities in Portland, Ore. Ferry was part of creating Dignity Village in 2004, a self-governed encampment, which has evolved over several years to a community of tiny homes built by residents and Americorps volunteers.

Arlene Ellwood is the Architectural Design Coordinator at Mobile Loaves & Fishes, which operates Community First! Village, a 51-acre permanent location. Community First is poised to grow to nearly 2,000 homes across three locations, making it by far the nation’s largest project of this kind, big enough to house about half of Austin’s chronically homeless population permanently.

Photo courtesy of Mobile Loaves & Fishes.

The 130 tiny homes at Community First! are as stylistically diverse as they are purposeful.

Aaron Prinz is the host of the Design:ED Podcast and holds a Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He was born and raised in the rural Northern California town of Red Bluff, just two hours south of the Oregon border. After one year of college, Prinz relocated to San Francisco to pursue a career in stand-up comedy. At age 26, he began studying architecture at Portland State University while interning at Studio Petretti Architecture led by Amanda Petretti. His professional contributions while at Studio Petretti were focused on a portion of the new Multnomah County Courthouse which is a prominent addition to the Portland skyline. He currently resides in Austin, Texas with his wife Roxanne where he continues to work as a designer.