A Barron County property could become a tiny home community as the Salvation Army looks to improve transitional housing options in the area.

The plans are being developed as local governments and nonprofits in the region struggle with a lack of affordable housing and a growing unhoused population. According to a Rice Lake Chronotype report, the Salvation Army has been trying to use the property to address housing issues for years.

The organization purchased the land along Highway TT in 2021 with plans to renovate the former nursing home at the site into a transitional housing complex. After facing construction issues, they determined that the building couldn’t be saved. Instead, a smaller structure on the Barron County property was converted into temporary housing.

A similar project in Chippewa Falls gave local nonprofit officials a new idea for the property. Hope Village had started using tiny homes to help the unhoused population in the Chippewa Valley. Soon after the smaller structure in Barron County was renovated, the Salvation Army received two donated tiny homes. Now, officials believe creating a tiny home community is a solution to their lack of transitional housing.

The proposal is the latest in a string of creative solutions to affordable housing shortages in the region. In addition to the tiny home projects in Barron County and Chippewa Falls, other municipalities are looking at former schools as potential affordable housing complexes. The City of Superior is making plans to convert Lake Superior Elementary School into a 50-unit housing complex. The Cities of Ashland and Eau Claire have also placed limits on short term rental properties to open up more housing stock.

As construction costs continue to rise, municipalities could continue to target existing buildings for conversion to housing or seek more properties where a tiny home community could be built.

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