Tiny Home Community for the Homeless

tent city

by Steven Kuchinsky I am part of a team of people from Monmouth University building a program known as THRIVE (Towns for Healing and Rehabilitation in Interactive Village Ecologies.) We are working to create an alternative for about 80 homeless people living in tents (Tent City, Lakewood). Unfortunately, they must … Read more

Shopping Cart Shelter

shopping cart shelter

by Cristo I like questioning ideas and concepts that most of us take for granted. We usually accept them as a basis for our mind-frame or for how we are looking at our world and sometimes how we live our lives. I love twisting things that are so deeply integrated … Read more

Opportunity Village Eugene and the Conestoga Hut

Conestoga Hut

by Andrew Heban I am with the non-profit Opportunity Village Eugene and thought you might be interested in posting about our newly developed 60 sq. ft. Conestoga Hut here in Eugene, Oregon. The Conestoga hut is 6 by 10 foot shelter that can be built for between $250 and $500 … Read more

Tiny House Under the Subway

Carlos lives in a tiny house under a subway tunnel in New York City. This homeless man has created his own hidden sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle in an abandoned sewer hole under the train tracks.

Quarters: Prefabricated Housing

Bowen Island seems to be an attraction for tiny houses. It’s home to the Eco-Shed by James Glave and is now home to the Quarters house by industrial designer Amanda Huynh in collaboration with Anna Gukov, Lydia Cambron and Emilie Madill. Following nearly a semester of intense research in materials, compact housing and the homelessness epidemic in Vancouver, a full-scale, timber-framed unit was built to house 1-2 residents in need of a simple shelter.

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.

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Homemade Homeless Shelter

The New York Times has a video produced by Sean Patrick Farrell about a man in California who is using his ranch as a special homeless shelter and rehab center. The difficulties he has encountered and the laws he has chosen to ignore to make this work. Thanks Jeff for letting me know about this video.

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

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