A tiny home community and program may be underway soon to help Louisville's homeless veteran population.

Jeremy Harrell, founder and president of Veteran’s Club Kentucky, a social and support organization for veterans, is currently working through logistics for the plan.

The idea is to build more than 30 homes that are each between 320 and 400 square feet and a small community center on land off Dixie Highway near Stuart Avenue. Each veteran will be in one home, and they will participate in a 12-month program that consists of mental health evaluations and financial literacy classes, among other things.

Once veterans are finished with the program, the goal is for them to move out of the tiny home community, move into their own living quarters and become employed.

“We want to create an environment not only to get veterans off the streets into homes but also to give them essential skills to survive," Harrell said.

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Harrell is still working out details in this plan, such as how veterans will be selected to live in the homes and participate in the program. He said he is looking for donors and investors to help fund the project and engineers to help design the plan and to get approval from the city.

The land itself was donated to the project by Chris Thieneman, a local developer and former Louisville mayoral candidate.

Harrell said he and Thieneman were connected a mutual friend involved with a similar tiny home community plan in Shelbyville and that the two have been in conversation for the past couple of weeks.

Thieneman has always been passionate about the military, and his wife has had a "special place in her heart" for the homeless, Thieneman said. Though he previously planned to develop single family homes on the land, Thieneman decided to give the land to this project after seeing news about the plan in Shelbyville.

“It was so perfectly brought together," Thieneman said. "It’s like a sign.”

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Harrell said he hopes to build the first home in the community within a year and that the program is up and running in a year and a half. But Thieneman, who will help advise the project, said there might be some logistical challenges in getting the plan approved by the city, which could delay the project's start time.

"We ask that the city and city officials embrace this idea and come alongside us to make this idea a reality," Harrell said.

Those interested in learning more or helping with the project can contact Harrell at louisville.veterans@gmail.com.

Contact Ben Tobin at bjtobin@gannett.com and 502-582-4181 or follow on Twitter @TobinBen. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: subscribe.courier-journal.com.