Right now I wanted to re-explore the topic of affordable tiny housing with you as a solution as well as a tool to help alleviate homelessness as led by the article and conversation over at this article at Moyers & Company.
As you know one of the main benefits you experience when living in a smaller home is affordability. Your rent or mortgage is cheap and so is your utility bill. In addition, it’s also better for the environment because of efficiency.
Lately tiny homes are being tested as a way to help house the formerly homeless with fantastic results. It’s being done in Seattle, Oregon, Wisconsin, Portland, California, New York, and more. The question is, is it working?
In most areas it’s too early to tell but in my eyes, I see that it most certainly is. Slowly but surely it’s working. You can see for yourself in the videos below. And if put into practice across the nation, it will only continue to help more and more people. It already is in certain areas.
Right now there’s a growing community of tiny cottages near Ithaca, New York called Second Wind Cottages that are having success with the model, proof that the model can and does work to alleviate homelessness with help of the surrounding community.
Affordable Tiny Housing Alleviating Homelessness?
Images © John Light/BillMoyers.com
Images © John Light/BillMoyers.com
Video: Tiny House Movement and Communities to Create Affordable Housing
…and to create solutions for the homeless with tiny houses where appropriate.
Original story at BillMoyers.com.
Video: Second Wind Cottages
Learn more
Our big thanks to Peter Christiansen for sharing this story with us!
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Alex
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Wonderful story, many like these are being built in many places. So very
heartwarming to see this happen, we need more of these cottages to help
end homelessness, Amazing what you an build (with volunteer labor)
with $12-$15,000. Thanks for sharing it, rachel.
You all deserve a medal, I am so impressed. To those who get one of these super THs, you have won the lottery. Thanks for sharing. Cheers from Australia
This should be a model for cities all over the nation to use for eliminating homelessness. It is great that the occupants give back to the community as part of this. May God bless your efforts!
This is a wonderful initiative and I seriously hope it grows all over the place. One of the difficulties I see is that, as Mr. Guidi said, these folks need someone to ‘walk with them’ — they didn’t become homeless in the first place because they did everything right, and they need — and I suspect most would accept — help to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Alcoholism, drug addiction, emotional/mental problems will not simply go away because they have some security, and so that compassionate helping hand needs to be around, likely for a very long time in each case. This is something municipalities, for the most part, are unable to maintain. Therefore, I predict that it will continue to grow only if private individuals step up to the plate, as Mr Guidi has done.
I would love to know more about Second Wind… i.e. what is the criteria for selecting residents, why are there only men at this point, is alcohol and drug use forbidden on the property, is there a requirement for residents to take part in rehabilitation programmes, etc. I would suspect that improvements to the individual cottages (decks, fencing, etc.) would need to be approved by the property owner, but does he think residents will be interested in doing such improvements? And is there a time limit that people can stay there?
The programme is so interesting; thank you for posting it.