This is the Ruby tiny house in Austin, Texas.
It’s a Wizard of Oz-themed tiny house vacation rental that’s part of the Community Inn of tiny homes at Community First Village that you can actually stay at. What do you think?
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Ruby Vacation Rental Tiny House at the Community First! Village in Austin, Texas

Images via mlf.org
It’s a Wizard of Oz-themed tiny house.

Images via mlf.org
This tiny home was carefully constructed to make you feel like you are staying in Aunt Em and Uncle Henry’s Kansas home.

Images via mlf.org
Community First! Village is a 51-acre community that provides affordable housing for formerly homeless men and women.

Images via mlf.org
This tiny house has one bed on the main level with an additional one up in the loft.

Images via mlf.org
The Community Inn is located on site at the Village and provides guests with a unique glimpse into this transformative tiny home community that exists to love and serve our neighbors who are rediscovering hope and healing from the ravages of the streets.

Images via mlf.org
A small kitchen, and perfectly pet friendly for your sweet Toto dog.

Images via mlf.org
Enjoy all the carefully curated movie artifacts, as you slumber in your munchkin size home.

Images via mlf.org

Images via mlf.org

Images via mlf.org

Images via mlf.org

Images via mlf.org

Images via mlf.org

Images via mlf.org

Images via mlf.org

Images via mlf.org
VIDEO: Learn about Community First Village
Community First! Village in Central Texas
Community First! Village is a 51-acre master planned community that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for the chronically homeless in Central Texas.
Learn more
- https://communityinn.mlf.org/austin-tx-vacation-rental/tiny-home-ruby/#
- https://communityinn.mlf.org/austin_vacation_rental/tiny-home/
- https://give.mlf.org/give/298641
Related stories
- Community First! Village: Mitigating Homelessness Through Community
- Business Man Creates Tiny House Community for Homeless
- Reverend to Build Micro Home Community for Homeless
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To stay here…
https://communityinn.mlf.org/austin-tx-vacation-rental/tiny-home-ruby/#
To see their other tiny house vacation rentals…
https://communityinn.mlf.org/austin_vacation_rental/tiny-home/
To donate to their village and cause…
https://give.mlf.org/give/298641
Thanks!
Quick question. . .why is this house being rented out for profit rather than being utilized as a home for a family so that they can find “hope and healing from the ravages of the streets”? Just curious. . .
They’re a non-profit, so it’s not for profit… In their words you can find the answer in two parts, one is…
“Through the design of our Community Inn, and in our daily operations, we strive to provide a carefully curated experience. Our hope is that every guest leaves with a newfound desire to know and serve the homeless in their local communities. Our Community Inn units feature art and other handcrafted products made by our formerly homeless artisans and makers who live in Community First! Village.”
And the other is…
“Community First! Village is a 51-acre master planned community that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for men and women coming out of chronic homelessness. A development of Mobile Loaves & Fishes, this transformative residential program exists to love and serve our neighbors who have been living on the streets, while also empowering the surrounding community into a lifestyle of service with the homeless.”
So it’s part of how they make it work, like providing those who live in the village with jobs, keeping the housing affordable for them, and how they are actually providing to those in need by giving them a way to change their life and be self sufficient…
Thank you, James.
This house is a Jay Shafer home. He built these along time ago. They are a good size.
No, Ruby was built by a Santa Cruz woman, Kendall Ronzano who began building at age 16 in her Westside backyard. She donated it for use for housing the homeless…
Jay Shafer wasn’t involved…
My niece would love this as she is a big Wizard of Oz fan. Me I love it for everything!!!
This sounds like a lovely, happy, much-needed development. Please study the photos carefully. I see that this THOW and its neighbors are placed on a long poured concrete pad and are set very close together as part of a “51 acre master plan”. A few trees in the background, but not a single tree between each unit or in front of them or perhaps in front of every two or three of them. All that poured concrete. One wonders if that might possibly create a summer time heat trap? I suspect that the residents of those Texas THOW’s will have their A/C’s running 24/7 many months of the year. Young people wax philosophical about saving the planet. Yet here is this charming little complex with few trees. Take a look, and let’s see the full design. This reminds me of local developers here in n.w. Arkansas that build/sell largish houses on concrete foundations placed so close together that the owners will be lucky to be able to plant a bamboo clump between the houses. I am not a landscape architect, but I am a gardener of many decades that loves trees and green space. Now at age 72 and presumably in the last years of my life, before I give up the ghost I must warn all of you that trees and landscaping MUST be part of the page one development objectives whether of a THOW community or a larger fixed-foundation housing development. It is inadequate to have tiny little ruffs of trees scattered about that are only an afterthought. Perhaps someone will write to reassure me that there are “plenty of trees” in this 51 acre master planned community. I hope I am mistaken. Might someone put the master plan on line clearly showing the green space allocation? Or tell us the on-line site where the master plan can be viewed. These comments are respectfully submitted. Stephan of Arkansas
This area is a parking lot so it definitely lacks trees but the above isn’t indicate of the whole community, like it doesn’t show the farm and community gardens, etc.
So check out their video “Finding Home: Community First! Village” that shows what the whole area looks like and what they’re doing with it…
Mind, it’s still a new development and it can take years to get everything really developed. Like even when they plant trees it can take years for them to grow big, etc. and they have to be self sufficient so what they do has to fit their budget… Much of the community is set up to give residents jobs either providing services are selling things they make but that also sets the budget for the community.
Texas is also dealing with Oak Wilt, which is Killing Texas Trees in Epidemic Proportions. So there’s also the issue of being able to treat and protect, especially young and vulnerable, trees and needs to be something the residents can handle as they’re the one’s doing most of that work.
And there’s a number of other tree epidemics running around the country right now that’s making it harder to have trees in high numbers and density…
James I know Jay did not build this home. But she did use his house plans for it.
No, you said “He built these along time ago.”… You didn’t give the actual builder any credit and she deserves a lot of the credit here… The name is even in memory of her Grandmother, Dorothy… It took over 800 hours of her time, which she chose to not apply toward high school community service requirements at the time. So a lot of heart, care, and compassion went into this and how and why it ended up where it did…