MinnPost: Inviting the homeless home: Forest Lake church agrees to host Minnesota’s first tiny house village

A Washington County church has agreed to host Minnesota’s first village of tiny houses for people who are currently sleeping outside.

After a vote last week, the 1,500-member Faith Lutheran Church in Forest Lake is the first organization to welcome tiny homes on its property at the request of a Twin Cities-based nonprofit that believes the housing option represents the state’s best answer to its ballooning homeless population.

The nonprofit, called Settled, is trying to partner with faith-based groups in Minnesota to serve as landlords of the 100-square foot homes in part because federal laws governing church properties protect them from restrictive land-use changes. That means when neighborhoods or city planners make parcel adjustments to limit or increase development, churches can be exempt.