In Detroit, Tiny Homes Are More Than a Lifestyle Trend

[demmiblue]

Tiny houses are often mocked as millennial indulgences, a faddish protest against the clutter of modern life and our extravagant use of the earth’s resources. In a Detroit neighborhood still strewn with vacant lots, however, tiny homes are providing a financial lifeline, not just a trendy lifestyle.

The Rev. Faith Fowler, a feisty 60-year-old Methodist pastor, devised a radically new approach to solving a national domestic crisis that affects some half a million people.

Since 2016, Cass Community Social Services, an anti-poverty nonprofit whose roots are in the local Methodist church, has built 13 homes in the heart of a city that has suffered a crippling loss of housing stock and a chronic level of homelessness. The houses look like a scaled down version of a middle-class suburban dream—Cape Cods, Victorians and angle-roofed moderns, none larger than 400 square feet, each on its own 30-by-100-foot lot. And eight of them are occupied by a person who at one point in their lives had been homeless.

Tiny homes have been used as emergency shelters or transitional housing in places like Seattle and Denver. Seattle runs 10 tiny house “villages,” which provide a range of social services along with a weather-tight and secure place to sleep. But Fowler’s project is different.

Her tiny homes (six more are under construction with six more planned), built to code on concrete foundations, are designed to be permanent living spaces not just transitional housing. At an estimated construction value of $45-$55,000, much of it built with donated dollars from corporations, foundations and a variety of Chrisian denominations, they provide an opportunity to build generational wealth for chronically poor people living paycheck to paycheck.









https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/11/housing-detroit-tiny-homes-trend-227274

[LisaM]

1. These remind me of migrant worker or sharecropper cottages.

Speaking as someone who lives in a far smaller residence than I would like, I'm not a huge fan of these (though obviously they are preferable to homelessness).

[demmiblue]

3. Yes they are small, but it gives people the opportunity to own their own homes...

in seven years. That is a very empowering thing. As the one gentleman remarked in the article:

“Oh, man, when they gave me the keys, and everything was furnished, the bedroom, the dining room, I fell to my knees and cried,” he recalled in a telephone interview during a break at his job at Cass Green Industries, which makes sandals, mats and other products from recycled tires.

“In the apartment building, people were running through the hall and on top of your head. Now that I’m in my own home, it’s a peace of mind. You have your castle,” Prince said. “I see what they’re talking about now.”

Having outside space is a plus, as well.

[Aristus]

5. I know there are those who would like to turn up their noses to this kind of thing.

But I would love for my patients to have something like this available to them.

Sleeping with a roof over their heads, behind a locked door. Access to indoor plumbing, access to cooking facilities and food storage, comfort, safety., convenience, the opportunity to build equity.

I support this 100%.

[LisaM]

11. I'm not turning up my nose at them. They're obviously needed.

However, I do think that we are tending to glorify smaller living spaces recently. In the San Juan Islands off Washington state, there is a housing crunch and some people want to build tiny houses for people with limited means. Meanwhile, the millionaires and billionaires up there live in huge walled-off estates. I have a certain level of discomfort with this, and I also don't think they offer a long-term solution to anyone.

[Tikki]

6. The real difference..and I hope this continues...is that each home has it's own personality...not..

like living in a migrant camp or a tract neighborhood. And there is space between each home.

The feeling of being an individual in your own home can go a long way toward pride in your living
conditions and upkeep.

They have heat and working plumbing and a cooking source; it really beats living in a doorway or a cardboard box.

Tikki

[lagomorph777]

10. Way more architectural style than most neighborhoods I've seen!

Bravo!

This is a very promising way to reduce homelessness. I think it will become more and more common, especially as the GOP drains more and more money from the middle class and poor.

[underthematrix]

2. I love tiny houses and if I didn't live in a house I would

pursue a tiny housing community.

[lunamagica]

4. K&R for visibility

[MLAA]

7. They are so cool looking...I love them and love that folks get to own their own home

[Karadeniz]

8. I've had big. I've had small. Much prefer small.

[demmiblue]

9. For shits and giggles: my post on this topic from 2016

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10028154188


Some really, really clueless posts.