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Dec1 Tiny Homes, Big Lifestyle Change

Posted by Jeremy ThompsonCategories: Custom Homes, Disaster Management, New Construction, Restoration

Thinking of jumping on the “tiny home” bandwagon?You might want to think again. While tiny homes seemlike a great concept in theory with their cute designs andsmaller ecological footprint, the reality of the tiny homeis not so appealing to most homeowners.

In a Today.com article, Leah Atwood, the owner of atiny home and founder of a startup working to create avillage of tiny homes, says “A lot of people romanticizeit but the truth is, you have to recognize the challenges,difficulties and hard choices that go along with thislifestyle. In my experience, some people can handle itand some people can’t.”

Some of the challenges she mentions are giving up entertaining (she can only invite twopeople over at a time), and she also says owning very few possessions is a struggle for mostsince you can truly only own about one of anything (one pair of shoes, one fork, etc.).

Kristin Moeller, another tiny home owner interviewed for the Today.com article, says thelifestyle is not sustainable for most. “It’s like writing a book. Ninety percent of people saythey want to do it, but only about 5 percent actually will.” She admits there must be a zerotolerance policy for clutter in a tiny home, and living with her husband can be challengingin such tight quarters. She recounts one instance where she wanted to write, but she wasdistracted by listening to her husband talk on the phone.

While tiny homes may not suit most people’s living style, a recent story out of Huntsville,Alabama shows the homes may prove promising to serve a greater need…..housing for thehomeless. The fraternity members of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Alabama inHuntsville (UAH) plan to create a tiny home village to house homeless vets. The villagewill consist of tiny mobile houses of less than 500 square feet, a shared garden to bemaintained by residents and a community center. Each tiny home costs about $5000 tobuild, and one acre of land can support about 30 tiny homes. Other organizations acrossthe world have started similar projects, and the concept (similar to the idea of 3D printinghouses for the homeless) seems a cost-effective way to provide housing for the lessfortunate.

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By Steve Doyle | sdoyle@al.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on November 20, 2014 at 9:31 AM

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Nicky Beale has a big idea to build tiny houses for Huntsville's homeless.

And it's quickly becoming reality. Volunteers brought together by a shared passion to improve living conditions for the homelessgathered near Hampton Cove on Wednesday to build that first of 30 planned tiny homes.

With no electricity, running water or toilet, the one-room houses would hardly be considered fancy.

But for homeless folks like Jack, a Navy veteran who has been sleeping in the woods around Huntsville since October 2011, a sturdy roofand a front door that locks are small miracles.

"This is solid walls, so you won't have critters getting into it," said Jack. "It's also warmer, and I won't have to worry about mold andmildew ruining my clothes.

"It's just a bunch of nice stuff getting into one of these."

Beale's Foundations for Tomorrow group chose Jack, 54, as the first tiny homes resident. He will move into one of two houses beingconstructed this week; the other will be driven around on a flatbed trailer to educate people on the "tiny homes" concept.

One very large question remains unanswered for now: Where will the tiny homes call home?

Beale, a Redstone Arsenal employee stirred to action after reading about the closing of Huntsville's "Tent City" homeless campin June, is determined to create an entire tiny village -- 30 backyard tool shed-sized homes, bathhouse and communal garden squishedonto a single acre.

Similar villages already exist in Eugene, Ore., Olympia, Wash., and a handful of other cities.

Beale is hoping Huntsville leaders will not only bless the project but provide the land.

"Our criteria is just that the houses have to be close to public transportation and (homeless) service providers," she told AL.comWednesday. "The city has some land off Clinton Avenue that we've been talking to them about using."

Beale's passion to provide the homeless with safe, affordable, pint-sized transitional housing - each unit will measure about 150 squarefeet -- has become contagious. As her tiny homes idea made the rounds on Facebook, the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, subdivision developerAngela Mokhtari, CrossRoads Building Supply and others hopped on board.

Taylor Reed, president of the Phi Kappa Psi chapter at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, said the fraternity was looking to "get

'Tiny homes' the size of backyard tool sheds could be big gift to Huntsville's homeless

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our hands dirty" with a meaningful community service project.

Tiny homes offered the perfect outlet.

Reed and his fraternity brothers - many of them engineering majors - designed the houses and hope to raise $10,000 for the projectthrough crowdsourcing. Supporters had pledged more than $6,500 as of Thursday morning. Click here if you would like to donate.

"We wanted to do something different, something deeper," said Reed. "Phi Kappa Psi was founded on the great joy of serving others.We've kind of taken that to heart."

Mokhtari, who is developing the Villas at Timbers Edge neighborhood near Hampton Cove, provided the job site for Wednesday's tinyhouse raising and brought in two expert carpenters to lead the volunteer effort. She also connected Beale with Melaina Laroux ofCrossRoads Building Supply, which agreed to donate the lumber, vinyl siding, shingles, doors and windows for all 30 planned tiny homes.

The donated materials are valued at up to $60,000.

"We have some overstock," Laroux said Wednesday. "Instead of those things just collecting dust, we thought it would be an awesomeopportunity to get it out there and help somebody."

Each tiny home will have a bed, well-insulated paneled walls, front porch and locker for storing valuables. Beale hopes to add solar powerlater.

Jack and other future tiny homes residents won't be given a free ride. Those with an income will pay a small monthly rent - likely nomore than $50, said Beale. Others will have to earn their keep by tending the community garden, mowing grass or cleaning the showers.

"They'll either be putting into the community through their hands or through their funds," said Beale, 32.

Rusty Loiselle, founder of Help Our Homeless Veterans and Citizens, said tiny homes won't erase homelessness in Huntsville.

"But it's a step up the ladder," he said Wednesday. "These guys right now are living in cardboard boxes and tents and under bridges.This will just give them a little more peace of mind."

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Fraternity Bros Plan To Build Micro-Homes To Shelter StrugglingVeterans

The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity from the University of HunstvilleAlabama is doing a whole lotta good, or at least they’re trying to.After encounters with the city’s many homeless people, most of themveterans, the fraternity wanted to find a way to give back. Seeingtheir heroes struggling, living in the woods and on the streets, was notsitting well with them. Their response? Foundations for Tomorrow.

Foundations for Tomorrow is the fraternity’s new initiative to buildtiny mobile homes for homeless veterans. 30 homes can be built onjust 1 acre of land. Fraternity members have identified several plots ofland in the city that they can acquire for these tiny homecommunities. The Alabama Center for Sustainable Energy is evenproviding solar panels for the homes so energy is cost-free. Living,eating, working, gardening, and just sharing better quality livestogether is all the fraternity wants for the homeless.

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Source: inspiremore.com

#good news #cool story #good deeds #kindness

#helping others #helping the homeless #fraternity

#university of huntsville #huntsville #alabama #building homes

#huilding houses

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*On Nov. 3rd this story aired on NewsDepth. “NewsDepth is an award-winning instructional program

that uses the news to connect Ohio third through eighth graders to the Common Core.