WYLIE — In a community 30 miles north of Dallas, a model for addressing the affordable housing crisis is set to open its doors in the coming weeks in the hopes of setting a nationally replicable example of how to bring families out of housing instability.
On Saturday, dozens of community leaders, donors, volunteers and supporters celebrated the soft opening of Jericho Village, a 2.5-acre, 38-unit housing development in Wylie. The village includes 10 buildings: nine residential units and a community center.
Jericho Village is more than an apartment complex. Leaders see it as a community meant to provide an affordable, longterm place to live to help families reach self-sufficiency and stability.
“Just putting someone in an apartment to get them off the street, that is not sustainable unless they have empowerment services to help them become who they can be,” said Janet Collinsworth, founder and CEO of Jericho Village.
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Kaleta Doolin’s (left) is presented with a gift by Janet Collinsworth, founder and CEO of Agape Resource & Assistance and Jericho Village, during the soft opening of Jericho Village, a faith-based affordable housing project, on Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Wylie, TX.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
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Jericho Village plans to offer “wrap-around” services such as counseling, access to health care, child care, transportation and educational opportunities. The village has a sliding-scale rent based on income and is open to the general population. Residents are expected to move in as early as next month, though the complex is not yet accepting applications.
Wylie Mayor Matthew Porter has supported the project and said Jericho Village is about providing longterm solutions, not Band-Aids.
“It’s great to give someone a place to stay,” he said. “But the wrap-around care that is part of this model sets it apart. It provides a way to change the outcome … the influence that will have on multiple generations of a family is what makes this so special.”
In February, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner visited Jericho Village to see how the faith-based project will address housing instability.
Jericho Village, a 2.5-acre, 38-unit housing development in Wylie, includes 10 buildings: nine residential units and a community center.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
“For too long, our faith-based partners were excluded from HUD’s work supporting our most vulnerable citizens,” Turner said in a statement. “Jericho Village shows how affordable housing, paired with supportive services, brings hope and dignity to families in need.”
The project, six years in the making, was born from the Agape Resource & Assistance Center in East Plano, a nonprofit helping women, moms and their children out of homelessness, including many survivors of domestic violence.
“Jericho Village was intentionally designed to be a model to show that when a municipality and donors and supporters come together they can create sustainable housing … that really is transformative,” said Collinsworth, who also founded Agape.
The median rent in Texas is around $1,400, and it’s more than $1,860 in Collin County, according to 2023 U.S. Census data. That year, nearly 40% of residents in the county put more than a third of their income toward rent.
Housing costs have increased steadily. In 2021, the median rent in the county was nearly $1,560, and in 2016, it was nearly $1,250.
An entrance to the complex photographed during the soft opening of Jericho Village, a faith-based affordable housing project, on Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Wylie, TX.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
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For families transitioning out of homelessness, high rent is a barrier to stability.
Kaleta Doolin, an artist, philanthropist and daughter of the inventor of Fritos and Cheetos, donated to Jericho Village through her feminist nonprofit, Every Page Foundation.
“We really liked this idea,” Doolin said. “I’m an advocate for women.”
She hopes the project gives “opportunity to women who had none.”
Collinsworth hopes the model provided by Jericho Village can be replicated across the country to solve affordable housing crises in many communities. Turner’s visit showed her Jericho Village is on to something.
“It affirmed what we believe to be a solution.” she said. “That’s the linchpin, the fulcrum we need to really make a change in our country to provide housing that everyone needs.”