Community organizer: We need more tiny home villages

I refuse to accept the myth that the majority of people living on our streets are addicts, alcoholics and/or mentally ill. In fact, most of the 1,000 unhoused in our community simply can’t find employment that will cover the cost of rent. These citizens are nondisabled and should not be considered among the unhoused who make headlines.

It’s time we acknowledge that current responses are not working and the problem is only getting worse.  Simply put, we don’t have the capacity to place all these citizens in permanent housing. We have not experienced this reality since the Depression of the 1930s. The solution now is the same as it was then:  sanctioned camps. 

But since our federal government is not responding, it is up to local government and the private sector to step up. Tiny home villages are a solution that is affordable, safe, humane and empowering.  We have three successful examples in our community that need to be replicated.

Tiny homes are affordable: The materials to build a single (8-by-12-foot) unit cost about $7,500, and this one-time expense can easily be covered by volunteers and charitable donations. Because these villages can be self-governed with little oversight, ongoing operating costs are minimal. In fact, residents can maintain their village, costing the public very little. Providing utilities, including electric, water, toilets and garbage service, creates no significant burden to local government.

Tiny homes are safe: Residents of tiny home villages are initially screened for suitability, including a police background check and evidence of drug abuse. Entry is secured and monitored, protecting residents from outside threats, including drug dealers. Also providers of medical care, case management, mobile showers and other support services can easily locate persons living at these identified sites.

Tiny homes are humane: A secure and private “home” in a community village is infinitely more humane than sleeping outdoors or in a warehouse environment. Restrictions normally enforced in a mass housing model are unnecessary. Instead, tiny home residents have independence, freedom of personal associations, and their privacy.

Tiny homes are empowering: Living in a cooperative environment and contributing to its maintenance, restores an individual’s sense of self-worth. Personal skills are engaged as residents assume responsibility for their home and to their neighbors. These contributions demonstrate an individual’s capacity to move on to permanent housing should it become available.

What’s the barrier? Land. No one has offered space for more of these villages and inertia is the primary barrier. Doug Gustafson, president of Homes Now, the nonprofit operating two tiny home villages, says they have the capacity to do more using this model. Our community has dozens of paved and unoccupied lots apart from residential neighborhoods.

While we focus on big solutions, we are forgetting the crisis of those who need relief now. Tiny home villages can be built quickly. Delay costs lives. It is shameful that we have the capacity but not the will to provide these minimal protections for the unhoused. We can do this! I urge both government and the private sector to identify and secure land so we can provide basic protection for our neighbors living outside.

Duane Jager is a retired community organizer and founding director of Appliance Depot and Ragfinery.  He can be reached at duanejager1@gmail.com.

The author’s name was misspelled in the byline of a previous version of this story, which was updated at 8:26 a.m. on July 27, 2024. Cascadia Daily News regrets the error.