While in Massachusetts the other day I happened to be sitting in on a conversation about homelessness. I certainly hadn’t planned on that. However the conversation happened around me at a cookout and I kept my mouth shut.
Some of the people were involved in working on solutions. One person had even been homeless some years ago.
One solution that was put up was to get everyone in tiny homes. The formerly homeless person was against that. Her argument was that tiny homes were a crappier version of the American Dream. They really are not great to live in for long periods of time.
I bet they could be but the way tiny homes for the homeless are done would have to change. Often they populate a vacant lot with a bunch of shacks that lack a lot of basics -like plumbing. Bathrooms and dish clean up are run campground style with shared facilities.
Many years ago, before zoning got too onerous, tiny homes were pretty common. A couple would start out building a very small home. However, it was on a big enough city lot to allow for expansion. They also tied into city utilities. As the family grew rooms would be added on over time. Often nobody had to borrow money to make that happen. A great uncle of mine did that very thing.
So to make tiny homes work they would need a few things. A big one would be owning the land under your tiny home. Too often tiny homes are just stick built trailers. While that often gets around zoning issues it’s a dead end. There’s always the danger of eviction.
A tiny home would have to have the same access to public utilities as a regular house. Hauling your water or your wastes around gets old over time. Being able to get grid power and high speed fiber Internet makes it a lot less like camping.
Zoning would have to allow DIY home expansion. Tiny homes could be designed to allow for modular expansion as funds allow and needs change.
The big one, of course, is cost. That would have to come down a lot. Maybe factory built units would be one of the answers. However what we have like that today is called a trailer park. That’s not exactly the model to use.
One thing the tiny house movement gets right: to end homelessness people need to be in some sort of home.
-Sixbears
My home , when originally built , would have been considered a tiny home in 1922.
ReplyDeleteSince then it has been added to, but certainly not to McMansion level lol.
Seems that certain sects of the "Haves" would take the very American tradition of camping away from all but those which can afford expensive fat cat Rv's.
Instead , why do we not designate certain public properties for such use. We used to call it public land for that very purpose.
We are becoming what we ran from as immigrants originally...then too there are those which would eliminate all immigration too.
I say , how bout we return to our roots and perhaps deport those which wish to return to Dictator's and Kings.
Having camped in a tent for months on end I think it's not the worse way to live. Actually, when we were living in the converted ambulance some people didn't believe we actually had a house somewhere. I guess we were too successful at cheap living? Good deportation plan. Why should we give up the freedoms our forefathers gave up so much to acquire?
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