Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice
Atlanta-based human resources executive turned real estate developer and founder of Techie Homes, the innovative company behind one of the city’s most forward-thinking micro-community movements, Booker T. Washington is introducing a new era of living.
Techie Homes focuses on building micro-home communities that offer affordable, sustainable housing options while helping more people, especially those in Black and brown communities, become homeowners.
Enter: Techie Homes
Growing up in southwest Atlanta and in a single-parent household, Washington said his inspiration for Techie Homes stemmed from a lack of what his family didn’t have. His family moved around from different projects. His mom, he said, never taught them much about ownership.
“We did not know anything about ownership. When she passed away 12 years ago, we thought the home we lived in for 20 years was hers, but come to find out, she rented it for 20 years,” he said. “My siblings and I thought about all the money that was spent on rent, and this was a person who worked every day.”
Washington says his mother wasn’t living off government aid and worked every day, so it made him think about how she got there, being educated.
“She passed away with a negative bank account, so that sparked a fire in me about five or six years ago to start leaning into these urban communities about why they don’t have ownership,” he said.
Once he found out ownership is strategically kept away from black and brown communities, that’s when Washington began designing a way to build a community the way his dreams were: front porches, talking to neighbors being at peace during the walk around the neighborhood, having a home that you own, and it all being nestled in a way that makes the home owner feel they’re able to grow in the community and have pride of ownership.
“This all started because of coming out of lack and being a child of a single parent who worked, was educated, but still didn’t own anything, so I wanted to change that for anybody else coming behind me,” he said.
Techie Homes, ownership, & equity
Techie Homes, now the largest builder of micro and cottage homes in Georgia and the sixth largest in the U.S., has completed two major developments: South Park Cottages in College Park and Union Park Cottages in Union City. The company’s first community, South Park, was crowdfunded with more than $3.5 million from local investors.
Union Park Cottages, described as America’s first mixed-use micro home community, includes shared spaces such as a coffee shop, tech lab, dog parks, gardens, and walking trails. Each home ranges from 400 to 1,000 square feet and features standard-sized appliances and modern finishes.
Washington said the communities are ideal for single parents, small families, and retirees looking to downsize without losing the sense of neighborhood connection.
In June, the average Atlanta apartment cost more than $1,600 per month for just over 750 square feet. In that context, Union Park’s homes offer something crucial that apartments cannot: ownership.
Each home was designed with sustainability and durability in mind. Fiber-cement cladding protects from fire and mold, roofs are slanted for solar panels, and premium construction materials help build owners’ pride, according to Washington.
Also, Washington says he does not use the term “affordability” because it’s relative and not specific to a person or income bracket.
“You can have a person who makes $150,000 a year choose a cottage for affordability because they’re deciding about their income and what disposable income they want to have,” he said. “But you also have a person who makes $60,000 a year who wants to find homeownership, and this is the only affordable homeownership option, so what we give people is access.”
He also says they try to make it known that they give people accessible community access because at whatever entry level point you are, they meet you where you are.
Union Park Cottages is also pioneering the first micro-community with a mixed-use commercial space. Residents share 15% ownership in an on-site coffee shop and tech lab through the HOA. The target demographic of Union Park Cottages ranges from 20-somethings in the early phases of building equity to seniors and empty-nesters wanting to downsize.
Washington emphasized that micro homes present an alternative to high rents and shrinking homeownership rates among African Americans. He also noted that many families spend more than half their income on housing, while other demographic groups spend significantly less.
Next on the map for Techie Homes is a new micro-home community in Norcross. Washington said they’ll start construction in late 2025.
Home for the Holidays, future, & more
Washington recently announced the launch of Home for the Holidays, a national raffle giving one lucky winner the chance to own a fully furnished, smart-enabled home in the Union Park Cottages community in Union City, Georgia, valued at $250,000.
“Home for the Holidays really comes from understanding there are so many people out here that, without aid, will never see home ownership,” he said. “In the current climate we live in, there are so many artificially pitted factors against black and brown communities; slavery was just 140 years ago.”
Washington says without help or someone learning from the plight, home ownership will never happen, which is why he introduced the raffle because no one else is going to do it.
Designed with modern aesthetics, smart-home features, and eco-efficient construction, the campaign raises awareness around attainable homeownership and sustainable community design.
Additionally, tickets to enter the raffle are $250, and the winner will be announced and receive their home on Christmas Day, free and clear of any debt.
Proceeds from the raffle will help the Techie Homes nonprofit division, which provides down-payment aid to future micro-home applicants, helping individuals and families take the next step toward attainable, sustainable homeownership.
While Washington is also known for his high-profile partnerships with leaders like Killer Mike and Dr. Jamal Bryant on broader community initiatives, Home for the Holidays stands as his newest independent effort to make homeownership more accessible to everyday Americans.
Additionally, Washington also launched another project with Killer Mike and his wife, Shana Render, to launch The Park at Brawley, a $5 million affordable homeownership development located along Atlanta’s historic Westside Corridor.
The project will deliver 18 modern, energy-efficient micro condos priced below $300,000—a meaningful response at a time when Atlanta’s median home price has climbed above $400,000.
Designed for working families, lifelong residents, teachers, city employees, culture-bearers, and elders who have sustained the Westside for generations, The Park at Brawley stands for a commitment to equitable, community-rooted development that prioritizes belonging over displacement.
“The Brawley is a symbol of our evolution, and our vision was never singular,” he said. “This is a change because now we show people in the deeper metropolitan areas of the city, we can find you access because the price points of those units will still be below $300,000, so now you can be down the street from the stadium in a place you own for less than $1,800 a month.”
In the next five years, Washington says he sees Techie Homes to have built multiple communities and to be a leader in this piece of the home building industry.
“There are major home builders in the United States, but they do not build cottages, and they do not build things in the urban market that would be affordable today,” he said. “They build homes and some are nice, but it’s not a way for the people in urban environments to grow and find home ownership early, and it shouldn’t be delayed.”
Techie Homes has only been in business for four years, but they have already developed and built out more than $15 million worth of real estate, according to Washington.
Also, Washington says he would like to see municipal access to build types as it relates to Atlanta’s housing landscape future.
“All real estate actually is more controlled by your municipal people, city councils, governments who overlay and design the communities for you,” he said. “It’s called a comprehensive plan.”
Washington says that what would be more helpful is to be involved with small-scale, minority developers in scaling out more adaptable uses of land, while if you saw them build a 26-home community and coffee shop on 1.67 acres, until they began building South Park, this was not a reality for anyone.
He also says that as a city, they need to build more realities for municipal comprehensive plans that allow for access to a diverse marketplace of home ownership types and not the same cookie-cutter set of open homes for young people.
“You would think if I don’t find a town home, I gotta live in an apartment, which I gotta wait to save up, but every year, your rental rate changes and your other expenses change,” he said. “The finish line for you to save for that new home always changes, and a lot of that is driven by the municipal government, which is why voting matters.”
As far as advice, Washington says aspiring business owners should rush to fail.
“Most entrepreneurs and business owners want to be social footed about what they’re doing and how they’re doing that, but they actually put more of a paralysis to their business than a leg up because only through failure and in a way of understanding and adapting to what the marketplace is can you innovate,” he said.
Furthermore, Washington says the landscape and future for home ownership, and why it matters is that there is a war for equity currently. He believes people don’t know this and are asleep at the wheel.
“If you write down comparable points of the chart of divorce rates, which are up more times than not,” he said. People want to stay single longer; birth rates are down, and the upward trajectory to home ownership is delayed until you are close to 40. All those things are connected to expense, and your expense of life is based upon your experiences, and your rush to get experiences is based upon you trying to achieve the American Dream.”
Washington says he would tell people they don’t have an American dream; they have an urban dream of survival and are trying to figure out how to gain ownership, equity, value, and pride in the work of their lives and the benefit of their lives.
“Yet, you’re hoping somebody gives you that recognition, and our champion of home ownership is related to that plight, so I would add those pieces, and that’s the major reason why I will tell people my dream continues,” he said.