Ready to Scale Down?
The first house I owned measured 1700 square feet (this was in 1997). It had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 2-car garage. Currently my house measures 1055 square feet. One of the reasons I now own a smaller home is due to higher real estate prices in the Midwest compared with Texas. However, I honestly can’t believe I ever thought I needed 1700 square feet.
That said I’m not sure I could live in 192 square feet. But that’s exactly what some people are now doing. Check out this VIDEO that follows a mildly growing tiny house movement.
Thoughts?
I think it is a good idea, and it will probably help; but I’m not sure if it will solve all the problems. Obviously a 192 square feet house is extremely tiny and I can’t actually picture how small it is but from the video I cannot imagine an entire family let alone a couple living in it, but I am sure families would make this work if they didn’t have any other options. Since the video was short and didn’t answer a ton of questions I was wondering how people get offered these homes and if there were any conditions to getting them. And since they pay for them would they own the houses or just rent them.
I think homelessness is a bigger issue that building houses in “one” community won’t solve. However, I do think that it’s a good idea of creating these homes for homeless individuals. Like the video said, these homes will give the individual a sense of stability in order to function accordingly back into society. Like Kelsey from above said, I don’t know how functional these homes would be for a family, but it’s better than being on the streets.
Well I would not WANT to live in a space that small as a permanent residence. I lived in a 60 square foot plywood room for a year in Afghanistan twice, and while cozy and enough room for one; I wouldn’t prefer it. Also people from South America to Asia and Africa live in single room apartments with entire families. I’ve seen living quarters which take up the entire floor from mats, and a family of 6+. There couldn’t have been more than 200 square feet in those rooms, but they make it work. We are extremely blessed to be Americans, and do not even realize our blessings.
I enjoyed this video a lot. I think it’s amazing that these people are building these tiny homes focused for the homeless. I can’t believe how small these houses are! But it’s cheap to live in and anything is better than the streets. Hopefully people would be living in these houses for just a short time to get back on their feet…so if that I believe these houses would be manageable to live in…people live in dorm rooms, bunks, hotels…etc. From the looks of it those houses look really nice…the only thing I found concerning was that they are expensive to make for only charging around $250 a month but hopefully it works out! I’m curious to see how this tiny movement works out.
I like the tiny house movement and I’d like to know more about, aside from homelessness, what the prerequisite conditions for purchase are from an organization like this. Also, I can’t imagine there actually being an out of pocket expense for these if the target consumer has zero income. They would most likely be subsidized, and the great idea these might be would be lost in the bureaucracy of trying to get one. Good initiative, bad judgement for this project. I think it’s a viable option, but not for the general homeless. I would rather see these units targeted toward homeless veterans. Folks that not only know how to live with almost nothing, but can thrive with little else than each other. Vets already have the social skills necessary to survive a tiny and organized environment like this, and I think the units would be better taken care of than if leased/given/sold to anyone else. I remember how trashed the FEMA trailers got after Katrina, and I remember what pristine condition the shipping containers we lived in Iraq were.
I really like the idea of the single person homes built specifically for the homeless population. However, most people are homeless because they lack income so how will they be able to afford the $250/month rent (even though it is priced low)? Overall, I think this is a good idea but I would have to hear more about it to be able to form an opinion on the topic at hand. This might even be a good idea for the college population, seeing that the majority of us are poor as well.
I have taken a child welfare class and I have watched a video of families living in their cars. Families had to use the Wal-Mart bathroom to get ready for school. I also seen families from the video who had to live in hotel rooms. At least if they live in a small house like this they will be able to save up money to get back up on their feet. I think this is lower the crime rate as well.