As you approach Community First Village in East Austin from the west on Hog Eye Road, a giant sign appears at the entrance to the 27-acre community with big, bold letters that say: “Welcome.”

To a passerby, the words may be a nice gesture or a warm greeting for visitors. But to the nearly 100 people living in the state-of-the-art, master-planned community for formerly homeless people, the word means so much more.

Most of the residents had been chronically homeless, which means they had been without a home for at least a year. Most had been on the streets for much longer, some decades, often suffering from mental health issues and drug and substance addictions. Many had been abandoned by friends and family who thought they were lost causes.

“I was dying on the streets,” said Gary Floyd, a 54-year-old resident who spent 10 years homeless. “I believe Mobile Loaves & Fishes saved my life.”

The village has been more than 10 years in the making, the brainchild of Alan Graham, the founder and CEO of Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a group that provides homeless people food, clothing and shelter. Twelve years ago, it bought a gently used RV to help get one of the homeless men they often worked with off the streets.

“That sparked the idea of developing an RV park or what we call a KOA (campground) on steroids,” Graham said. “We’ve been working on it diligently ever since.”

The village, which officially opened in January but had a few residents before then, has a mix of RV homes and eccentrically-designed small homes (all less than 200 square feet) surrounded by amenities like gardens, a community amphitheater and places to work and worship or meditate. Once completed by the end of next year, it will house 250 people.