Stepping into a building in Tiny Home Village is like entering a walk-in closet. The room is just large enough for a bed, a dresser and a miniature refrigerator that line the walls.
But for homeless people whose mental health challenges cause them to reject being in regular shelter space with others, the single-occupancy tiny homes will offer a comfort zone while Sulzbacher prepares them for a move to more permanent housing.
Sulzbacher, a nonprofit that helps people who are homeless, is preparing for the first residents to move in around October. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 27 gave an inside look at the tiny homes located on the organization’s downtown campus.
“This project is about meeting people where they are and offering a safe alternative to life on the street,” Sulzbacher CEO Cindy Funkhouser said at the ceremony.
The 10 steel-walled tiny homes will provide much-needed beds the city can turn to in complying with a state law that took effect last year banning “camping” or sleeping on public spaces such as parks and sidewalks.
The city currently pays for 110 beds at Trinity Rescue Mission, City Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army that are dedicated as an option for people to use instead of facing a trip to the jail for violating the no-camping law.
The city isn’t a financial partner in Tiny Home Village. The Jessie Ball duPont Fund awarded a $350,750 grant to Sulzbacher to cover the cost of constructing the homes and a full year of operating expenses such as a case manager’s salary, electricity and meals.
Sulzbacher provides wraparound services such as counseling at its West Adams Street campus through the Mental Health Offender Program that works to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses cycling through the jail on misdemeanor charges.
Sulzbacher CEO Cindy Funkhouser listens to speeches during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Tiny Home Village at Sulzbacher’s downtown campus on Aug. 27, 2025.
The city’s connection to Tiny Home Village comes through the Fire and Rescue Department’s PATH team — short for “Providing Assistance to the Homeless”— that approaches homeless people and offers them transportation to shelters.
Mayor Donna Deegan said she hopes the Tiny Home Village pilot project can expand along with the growth of other shelter options.
“It’s a powerful reminder that anything is possible when the public, private and philanthropic sectors come together to be agents of positive change,” she said at the ribbon-cutting.
Her proposed 2025-26 budget would provide $1.87 million to further expand shelter beds, which currently run at full occupancy, by leasing hotel rooms that would add another 100 to 120 beds for the PATH team to utilize for referrals.
The city would provide round-the-clock security, case management to help people move toward permanent housing, and time limits on how long people could stay, said Tracye Polson, director of state and federal advocacy and public-private partnerships in the mayor’s office.
“We owe it to taxpayers, businesses, first resonders and the people living on our streets to try something smarter than the status quo,” she said during one of City Council’s budget hearings. “Let’s test it, track it and if it works, let’s lead.”
Jacksonville Fire Chief Percy Golden II speaks Aug. 27, 2025 at the Tiny Home Village about how his department’s outreach team helping homeless people get shelter and services will connect with the transitional housing on the Sulzbacher campus in downtown.
The Finance Committee cut the funding sought by Deegan and instead maintained the same amount of spending next year for the existing shelter beds and the seven firefighters on the PATH team. The Finance Committee also supported giving $1.844 million to the Homeless Initiatives Commission to decide how to spend.
City Council member Ron Salem said the city has done a “fantastic job” on homelessness while complying with the state law and the Finance Committe will enable that same work to continue.
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“We’re not cutting anything,” he said at the Finace Committee’s budget hearing. “We’re putting in an additional $1.844 million so make sure we’re perfectly clear there.”
The final word will be up to the full City Council. Some council members have said they want to put in place the funding Deegan proposes when council votes on the budget in September.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Sulzbacher’s tiny homes help Jacksonville comply with homeless law