Well this is good news for the homeless in Portland, Oregon! The government has approved a new pilot program called “A Place For You” that will allow willing participants to housing homeless people in tiny modular units paid for by the government and charitable donations.
The Portland Press Herald reported:
Under the pilot program taking effect this summer, the homeowners will take over the heated, fully plumbed tiny houses in five years and can use them for rental income…Residents just passed a $260 million housing bond, but it will be two years before those units are ready, said Mary Li, director of Multnomah County’s new Idea Lab, which developed the concept.
The best part? About 200 homeowners have already signed up to get more information about the project because they are eager to help the homeless in a tangible way. Read the rest of the story here.
What do you think?
Portland Greenlights Tiny Homes for Homeless

Image via Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP
More Stories about Tiny Homes for the Homeless:Â
- Student-Built Housing Pods for the Homeless
- Sawhorse Revolution Salvaged Material Tiny House for Homeless
- SocialBite Village for Edinburgh’s Homeless
- Formerly Homeless Man Builds Micro Shelter for Homeless Friend
- Schoolboy Helps Build $200 Micro House for the Homeless
Resource:Â
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Natalie C. McKee
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This is so positive! Exactly the kind of news we need to continue to see!
Yes 🙂 The BEST news!
This is awesome, and couldn’t come at a better time, as it seems Trump is wanting to make deep cuts to HUDs housing programs that help low-income people, if not eliminate the program entirely. I live in Wisconsin, and know of two cities that have approved allowing homeless people to dwell in tiny houses, but on a much smaller scale, and entirely funded by donations from the public. Chippewa Falls is allowing two tiny houses to be placed in a church parking lot to be used by the homeless, and there is the OM village in Madison. I believe they had 12 tiny houses the last time I checked their website.
That is such great news, DJ! Glad this is catching on more and more.
See, this is a nice idea. But why isn’t there help for people like me who are the working poor? I work hard, have little debt, can’t afford a house but have to pay ridiculous rents to live in an apartment. Meanwhile homeless folk get free houses, as do single mothers who have child after child they can’t afford to raise (Habitat for Humanity). I’m sick of seeing this. If only some building contractor would build small but decent apartments/condos without all of the stupid not-needed amenities (like pools and dog parks) which would keep the rents down. When are people like me going to be helped?
you may want to consider going tiny, or live in a less expensive place.
like you, I work hard (one full time and one part time job), have almost not debt now and live in a pretty expensive city (Chicago). But I also live in an are that may not be the best, but is really inexpensive. I save by not having a car and ride my bike.
it can be difficult. but it is possible.
the issues with low income housing is that it can attract unsavory characters that bring property values vary low.
Chicago has pockets known as tent cities where many homeless reside, it would be great if this city could use an abandoned lot to build a tiny community for the homeless. I would definitely volunteer time to assist the building of one.
Great News for the people of portland, in specific, and to the Tiny House Movement, in general
That it is!
My ex wife and her Husband and the rest of the Family sure could use this right about now in 2019 Hope to get some feed back on this on how to get in to one of these
Wow i had this idea and presented it to the council about 6 years ago but it was denied and said to be impossible financially. Glad they finally caught up to having at least a tiny growth mindset for their tiny house program.
This is great. I hope there is education, rehabilitation and mentorship in place since we saw what happened in Vancouver canada where the apts they built for the homeless were immediately destroyed and damaged. Mental models and behavioral habits dont change for the better just by wanting a better life, there has to be a correction that is guided and educated empathetically.
This is all good news btw. Cant wait to see how this affects the city now. I hope that it goes well so as to become a long term solution.