ST. MARY PARISH — A tiny home in Franklin is laying a big foundation for how St. Mary Parish tackles its growing affordable housing crisis.
Deloris Johnson, 75, has spent the past year living with family after being evicted from her Patterson home when her landlord sold the property. Like many seniors in St. Mary Parish, she found herself priced out of the rental market while navigating retirement and trying to maintain her independence.
“I’m 75 years old. My whole entire life, after I had my kids, I kept a roof over their heads,” Johnson said. “That’s the thing that really bothers me — but I gotta keep going anyway.”
Johnson is one of several residents hoping to move into a new development led by Kemyana Jones-Bey and her engineer partner Anne Johnson-Bey. The project began two years ago as a way to convert a simple storage shed into livable space. That experiment has now grown into a full-scale vision: a community of tiny homes under the name St. Joseph Community Living Area, aimed at helping those on fixed incomes secure safe, affordable housing.
“My baby sister wanted a place to live, and we had property and said — let’s see,” Jones-Bey said.
Anne Johnson-Bey, who helped design the structure, said the idea came naturally.
“You know, we could actually do these portable buildings and turn them into tiny homes and save a lot of money and really help a lot of people,” she said. “I started talking to the mayor and different officials here and the parish council, and one of the biggest things was having affordable housing — and for the elderly.”
The project specifically targets residents over the age of 60 who make less than $40,000 a year, a group Jones-Bey says is often left behind in traditional housing developments.
Deloris Johnson, who has been on the waiting list for affordable housing, said the project represents more than just a roof over her head.
“People like me can have somewhere they can say, ‘This is mine,’ and afford it,” she said.
The goal is to keep monthly affordable Jones-Bey says
“We wanna keep it low, and we try to keep it around 500,” Anne said. “’Cause the average Social Security is around 900 to 1400 dollars.”
Vivian Smith, another local resident who’s been denied housing in the past, called the project a blessing.
“Like a blessing in disguise,” she said. “Like God is really answering our prayers, to have someone like these beautiful women to just come and do stuff like this — it’s awesome.”
The project operates through the nonprofit Women’s Enhancement Centers of America(WECA) , and Jones-Bey said the only remaining hurdle is final subdivision approval from the parish.
“I just want to do God’s work, and it’s calling me to purpose,” she said.
St. Mary Parish Council members have expressed support for the initiative and acknowledged the scale of the problem.
“In St. Mary Parish, we have a critical housing shortage — it’s in dire need right now,” said J. Ina, District 2 councilman for St. Mary Parish. “We have a lot of jobs slated to come here. We have an experienced, seasoned elderly population… everybody needs housing. So we need more people like these young ladies with a vision to come and provide affordable housing.”
An open house for the first completed tiny home is scheduled for this weekend at 1pm. Jones-Bey said she hopes this is just the beginning of a larger movement to make housing more accessible across the parish. Jones-Bey says she's currently waiting for the parish council to approve the variance for the subdivision.
For application information and more details contact WECA : https://www.wecanow.org/contact
