GROVELAND, Fla. — A new kind of village in the City of Groveland is now underway. Tuesday, the city and non-profit ‘New Beginnings’ broke ground on a tiny village. This project is the first of its kind in the area.

What You Need To Know

  • A new tiny home community is coming to the City of Groveland

  • New Beginnings is building three tiny homes and hopes to make affordable housing a reality in Lake County

  • The project is income-based and applicants must already live and work in Groveland

County leaders said this is a step in the right direction as they look to spearhead affordable housing not only in Groveland, but across Lake County.

The project between the City of Groveland and New Beginnings is something Executive Director Steve Smith and his wife Linda have been working on for quite some time. The Smith Family said this project will help more people not only create a roadmap to shelter, but start their journey into homeownership.

“We realized there’s a lot of people that actually want to own their own home, so this is the newest step for new beginnings to introduce. It’s the journey out of homelessness,” said Linda Smith.

This is the first of many projects to come. Groveland Mayor Evelyn Wilson hopes her town will be on the forefront of this growing affordability issue.

“There’s such a need in this area. I look for Groveland to be a work, eat, sleep, play, educate kind of city. One stop city. And I want people who are working here to be able to live here,” said Wilson.

As for the Smith Family, they hope to expand this village with the help of the community.

“The idea is maybe we can build more of these for the community and let other people come in and create more of these,” said Steve Smith.

He said they not only need city and county leaders on board with prioritizing affordable and workforce living, but receive donated or discounted land to build more projects like this tiny home village in Lake County. This project will be completed by the summer.