TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - You've heard the phrase, "There's no place like home for the holidays."
In Tallahassee, several groups have been working to make sure more people have homes.
It's been an issue the city has dealt with for years and continues to face.
But thanks to recent affordable housing, Tallahassee is working on finding homes for more among us.
Tiny homes may be trendy, but John Schmidt says they're more than cute little buildings.
"Frankly, there's nowhere else like this in the country," said John Schmidt, Director of The Dwellings.
The Dwellings opened one year ago this week with 11 homes in a community on Blounstown Highway. Now, there are 75 with more development on the way.
In the next month or two, a community center with a dining facility and laundromat will open and by the middle of next year, 55 more homes.
"People have heard about this community. They've come. They've applied," said Schmidt. "They've gone through the appropriate assessment, and they've got their name on a house that's not even out of the ground yet."
This year, more affordable housing has popped up in Tallahassee.
Casanas Village in Frenchtown is now leasing, and the city teamed up with Habitat for Humanity over the summer to build three homes in Frenchtown and Griffin Heights.
"It just was a feeling that I just can't explain, and this key here, I thank God for it. I'm going to cherish it for the rest of my life," said Johnny McGriff, a new homeowner in July.
Even though more people are moving into homes, the reality is many in Tallahassee still experience homelessness.
Capital City Youth Services has raised more awareness through its annual Sleep Out fundraiser.
"Ultimately, you just don't like seeing human beings outside and suffering and, ultimately, if there's a way we can actually help them, that's what we prefer to do," said Kevin Priest, President & CEO of Capital City Youth Services in December.
Back at The Dwellings, Schmidt says "low-barrier" housing is the key in getting people off the street. These homes come fully furnished with a flat fee that covers rent and utilities.
"When you put a roof over someone's head, and they walk into that home and they see that they've got furniture, they got a bed to sleep on, they got a refrigerator finally to put food in, it's really, it's almost impossible to put into words," said Schmidt.
To get an idea of the demand for a home at The Dwellings, Schmidt says the waiting list is well into 2019 and that's for homes that haven't even been built yet.
