Sponsor Deek’s Tiny Yellow House Episodes

Here is a preview clip of a structure Deek (Derek Diedricksen) is now working on, that will travel with him to festivals, and speaking appearances, etc. Its designed to be a mobile, stackable, homeless shelter that doubles as a street vending kiosk. As always, its made with a good deal … Read more

Cadillac of Homeless Shelters

My name is Paul Elkins. I live in Stanwood Washington USA with my lovely wife Mary and our two dogs. In my spare time I play in my shop creating a host of toys and things that roll, mostly. They all start as and idea that gets transfered to paper. I’ve been doing this idea hatching thing since I was a kid. I recieving my first serious sketch pad on Christmas morning when I was 8 years old.

My original intent was to design and construct a simple, light weight, water tight insulated box on wheels geared for the northwest climate that an urban street person could reside in (with all the comforts of home of course) and have an area to display and sell handmade wares.

Wayno is demonstrating the proper way to push the shelter. All 225 pounds of it, empty.

Many homeless people are actually more creative than you might think, and not all want to beg or go rummage around in trash cans all day for a living. Homeless people have pride too! Also, this I think would make a better connection with the public.

So, what started as something that was suppose to be simple and cheap, well, let’s say I got a bit carried away…

What we have here is the Cadillac of homeless shelters…

Read more

Ed’s Sleep Pod – Homeless Shelter?

Ed sent me this today and I thought it would make a great homeless shelter. At $50 each surely we could afford to do something like this for the homeless in America and elsewhere. I’ll let Ed tell you more about it.

I wanted to share with you my mini cabin-sleep pod I built for a recent 4 day music fest I went to. With decent tents costing up to $100, I built this for around $50.

ed1

The dimensions are 4 foot by 6.5, with a 3.5 width bunk inside with storage underneath and room for me to maneuver in. (IE, change clothes and sponge baths. Heh) Being 6 feet tall, I was quite cozy in it. Its a little heavy, but it was fairly easy for me to simply tip it and slide it into the back of my truck. I got a number of compliments.

Read more