He has electricity and light that he implies comes from a nearby utility area (most likely it belongs to the transit authority) and he is able to store food, cook and heat his tiny home. He uses a few plastic containers for water  and washing.  When a friend first showed Carlos the space, he thought it was dirty but proceeded to clean it up, painted it and moved his few belongings in. Carlos has a refrigerator, a stove and toaster oven and even a small espresso maker. He is able to keep himself safe, warm and healthy in his little space.

Carlos is not alone in his lifestyle. According to the Coalition for the Homeless, 1 in 20 people in New York have experienced homelessness and the number of homeless families has doubled over the past decade. Many of these homeless are military veterans.

Since it is Memorial Day here in the U.S., take some time to remember our fallen veterans, and think of the veterans who may not have been welcomed home the way they should have been. In addition, be appreciative of any home you have, no matter what the size.

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The 8 foot by 8 foot structure has a built-in sleeping loft, a readily available 5-gallon bucket wash basin, a City of Vancouver rain water barrel and modular furniture, which could be easily configured to create a second sleeping space. Because the individual unit does not provide running water or electricity to reduce cost, it would function best in a community of such dwellings with central kitchen/washroom facilities.

This project is intended to open up a dialogue about a variety of ways in which homelessness in Vancouver could be addressed. Quarters was initially exhibited in Vancouver and Granville Island is is now currently situated on Bowen Island, British Columbia with three others like it.

Photos from Amanda Huynh and Anna Gukov

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Dan de Vaul has taken in dozens of homeless people by building ramshackle, illegal housing on his ranch in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Some see him as a good Samaritan, but others consider the ranch to be a dangerous eyesore. Watch the “Homemade Homeless Shelter video here.”

Photos from video by Sean Patrick Farrell

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.

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.

I ended up using the really cheap chipboard as I wanted to keep the cost under $50 (the paint was $5 ‘oops’ paint) so its not something that would last years and years outdoors, but it was good practice until I want to build something a little longer-lasting. For the bed I just put down a yoga mat and a sleeping bag, it was plenty comfy.

The roof is just a thin sheet of plywood. A while back I had built a simple wooden boat called a ‘bolger brick’ and while doing that I learned one of the properties of thin plywood is it because stiffer and stronger when it is bent, thus made a surprisingly solid roof.

(you can see pics of my boat attempt here and my little adventure, it was ugly but functional)

http://www.weblamer.com/2_19_2007_From_hippies_to_punks_in_a_single_day.html

“On the outside, it looks like an ordinary sports bottle. On the inside, there’s a miracle: an extremely advanced filtration system that makes murky water filled with deadly viruses and bacteria completely clean in just seconds.”
Allison Barrie, FoxNews.com

Too much of the world lacks access to clean drinking water. Engineer Michael Pritchard did something about it — inventing the portable Lifesaver filter, which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds.

Here is an amazing 10 minute demo from TEDGlobal 2009. Very much worth the time to watch.

Using a non-chemical nano-filtration hollow fiber membrane with 15 nanometer pores (it is designed to block viruses), the Lifesaver bottle can make the most revolting swamp water drinkable in seconds. Better still, a single long-lasting filter can clean 6,000 liters of water. Given the astronomical cost of shipping water to disaster areas, Pritchard’s Lifesaver bottle could turn traditional aid models on their heads. You can purchase your own here and if I had a tiny house I would seriously look at the new Jerrycan option.