Tiny Houses May be Solution for Homeless in Gardner MA
While most of us are comfortable in our homes, the homeless are often cold and lacking in basic needs. So Gardner Magazine is bringing this issue to the forefront with a focus on a successful project from out of state that perhaps can be duplicated here. The Tiny House Project is a registered non-profit based in California. Website, CLICK HERE. Facebook, CLICK HERE. Watch a full video on YouTube or listen to a short segment of AUDIO on any device. CLICK PLAY.
What is a Tiny House? – From their website: “Our Tiny House Emergency Shelters are designed just as a shelter. One room with no running water and a small amount of electricity for lights and to charge phones. Steel reinforced front door with deadbolt locks. There are Customizable options as needed. Different climates require different insulation or maybe a different pitch of the roof to keep off snow from collecting. Heating or Cooling, solar or grid, whatever the situation may be, we can customize the shelter to fit your needs. Shelters can be built in any size. example – 6×8, 8×8, 10×10 etc.”
The Tiny House Project was founded by Elvis Summers. The Mission is to build tiny house communities with all necessary amenities for human and societal needs including bathrooms, showers, laundry, kitchen, community center, gardens, etc. The website states ”Tiny Houses are cheap and effective. They are also simple and easy to build which makes them a no brainer for creating an emergency shelter.” Elvis started out by building a tiny house for a 61 year old woman who was sleeping in the dirt near his apartment.
Is this idea or something like it a possible solution for the Homeless in Greater Gardner Massachusetts and beyond? We wrote this to stimulate some discussion.