DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Mark Geallis may have retired last year, but he’s still hard at work.

The former executive director of two Volusia County homeless shelters, Geallis is now working on plans for a new tiny home village for chronically homeless people in the Daytona Beach area. He hopes to eventually create 150 tiny homes via his new nonprofit, Homeless 2 Home.

“I really want this to be their forever home, if they choose to stay forever,” Geallis said. “Many [people], yes, they’ll graduate out of there once they stabilize; maybe they’ll find a better job. But we want to provide on-site work opportunities for those that don’t have any type of income.”

It’s an idea inspired by other tiny home villages Geallis has studied across the country, including The Dwellings in Tallahassee – and, Geallis’s favorite, Community First! Village in Austin, Texas. There, residents are able to find on-site employment in places like the community’s auto shop or general store.

Geallis said he’d also like his tiny home village to include a general store and opportunities for residents to work. It’s all part of how he hopes the village will provide future residents with a sense of community and ownership over their lives.

Geallis said throughout his years of working to oversee area shelters, he’s learned a lot about the various barriers to stable housing for homeless individuals.

One, he said, is the rather high bar for admission set by many federal and state housing agencies. Often, chronically homeless people can’t get into supportive housing due to a past eviction or felony on their record, Geallis said.

“That eliminates a great majority of the people who are living homeless. Those are the reasons they are homeless,” Geallis said.

Another big barrier? The “Not In My Backyard,” or NIMBY syndrome – a negative reaction some people have to the idea of affordable housing developments or homeless services in their neighborhood. It’s a common mentality, according to Clay Ervin of Volusia County’s Growth and Resource Management department, who said the county hears NIMBY complaints at least ten to twelve times a year.

“People are not necessarily accepting of change when they reside adjacent to something,” Ervin said. “It’s just the nature of the beast … if it’s different, it has a chance to devalue my property.” 

Ervin pointed out that much of the time, this type of NIMBY concern isn’t valid or founded in fact. Still, the concern does exist, posing a challenge for advocates like Geallis who want to provide new opportunities for chronically homeless people.

Geallis said to try and overcome that issue, he’d ideally like to build the tiny home community in a wooded area, rather than in or right next to an existing residential development. 

“I just think that that will let the community embrace it more,” Geallis said. “It will prevent that NIMBY effect and resistance from the community.”

Geallis said he hopes to be able to take advantage of the county’s rural, undeveloped areas.

“There’s a lot of wide open space in Volusia County,” Geallis said. “I’m hoping that maybe we can get some donated land, either from [the] government or from a faith group.”

For now, Geallis is scoping out more board members, keeping his eyes peeled for possible locations and taking meetings with potential donors. He said he’s very pleased with the level of interest in the project so far.

“Whatever your reason, I think the community and everybody can agree: ending homelesness is a good thing,” Geallis said.

Molly Duerig is a Report for America corps member who is covering affordable housing for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.