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Tiny houses a way off the streets for Wisconsin homeless
news ^ | Brendan O'Brien

Posted on 05/11/2014 8:43:13 AM PDT by JoeProBono

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) - After surviving two long, cold Wisconsin winters on the streets, Betty Ybarra traded freezing park benches and tents for a tiny house made of recycled wood she helped build herself. Her 99-square-foot home, which boasts flower window boxes, was built by volunteers of the Occupy Madison group, as part of about a half dozen similar projects around the United States, including in New York and Texas, to shelter the homeless. "We can check on our flowers and we can now try to live a normal life," said Ybarra, 49, who shares her new home with her friend Chris Derrick, 55, who had also been homeless.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: 99squarefeet; homeless; homelessness; occupymadison; shotgunshack
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Bias. The homelessness are obviously due to the Tea Party (somehow.)


61 posted on 05/11/2014 11:42:27 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady
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To: A_perfect_lady
It’s a nice idea, and good luck to them. But I think they’ll find that their “village” will soon turn into a cesspool of drugs, theft, and filth. Folks who are homeless for any length of time usually seem to have addictions and/or mental problems.

Yeah. The problem requires more of a solution than building sheds.

It will also be interesting to see the first interaction between Occupy Madison and a zoning board, or the board of health. You live by the sword...

62 posted on 05/11/2014 11:46:31 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: ChildOfThe60s
All anyone knows for sure is that my wife and I are done with him. His living on the street is by choice. I’m sure that a lot of the homeless are like him.

Yeah. I work in Boston and see the regular panhandlers every day. Last week I noticed one talking on his cell phone.

63 posted on 05/11/2014 11:53:09 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: A_perfect_lady


64 posted on 05/11/2014 12:23:46 PM PDT by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: JoeProBono

He’d be better off with a simple NEED MONEY FOR BEER sign. Guy in West Hollywood was doing really well with that.


65 posted on 05/11/2014 12:27:50 PM PDT by A_perfect_lady
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To: Safetgiver

Good luck with your adventure! I am still quite young at 59 (I think anyway) and not ready to quit yet. If we had had the money when we were young we would’ve been long gone. Now we have the money and I can’t get him out of his chair. Go figure.


66 posted on 05/11/2014 12:55:59 PM PDT by sheana
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To: A_perfect_lady

I’d say I was pretty poor by US standards, but by, say, Ethiopian?.. That’s what I’m saying. By OUR standards anybody making $10.50 an hour is ‘poor’. However, if you have ever seen (and I hope to God you never will) people in the Phillipines, VN, Rwanda, Nigeria and India, you might want to hand them $100.00 worth of Ramen Noodles. They would be good for two years, I’d wager. I haven’t been back to Rhodesia, one of the lushest richest countries I was ever in, until the Communists took over. My sources tell me now the people can’t hunt, gather or glean because of the abominable state of the farmlands.


67 posted on 05/11/2014 2:03:04 PM PDT by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
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To: sheana


68 posted on 05/11/2014 3:18:26 PM PDT by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: Safetgiver

Oh, that is sad. I’d say the worst thing I’ve seen were beggar women and children in Portugal who were Middle Eastern. A lot of them were burned. Apparently men burn their daughters on purpose because they get more money as beggars, looking as pitiful as they do.


69 posted on 05/11/2014 3:22:51 PM PDT by A_perfect_lady
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Until I read this I didn’t realize we had any homeless. I thought they all went away in 2009.


70 posted on 05/11/2014 4:02:30 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s ((If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there)
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To: ChildOfThe60s
I’m sure that a lot of the homeless are like him.

My community gets a lot of these people -- drifters, transient, restless types who don't know what they want or, the minute they get bored or disillusioned with something, disappear at the drop of a hat & move somewhere else.

For this reason, when looking for roommates/tenants, I will not consider anyone over 35 (or even 30). An older, mature woman needs her own place, or she can be the landlady (like me) & call the shots. Someone older who had uprooted herself in search of spirituality / fame / fortune -- and shows up asking for a place to live, I flatly tell them no.

71 posted on 05/11/2014 6:01:09 PM PDT by MoochPooch (I'm a compassionate cynic.)
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To: JoeProBono

Hah! Nice.


72 posted on 05/11/2014 8:21:25 PM PDT by sheana
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To: sheana
Of course my dream is to live on a boat.

That was my dream for a long time as well. I was lucky enough to get my wife to share that dream and we almost succeeded. We are moving onto a floating home instead of a boat so I'll chalk that up as a win.

73 posted on 05/12/2014 6:51:32 AM PDT by BlueMondaySkipper (Involuntarily subsidizing the parasite class since 1981)
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To: BlueMondaySkipper

As long as there is water around you its all good. Congrats!!


74 posted on 05/12/2014 7:17:38 AM PDT by sheana
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To: BlueMondaySkipper; sheana; A_perfect_lady
This is where we're moving to. Not exactly a boat but close enough for me. We bought it last summer and will be living there full time after Labor Day


75 posted on 05/12/2014 7:18:02 AM PDT by BlueMondaySkipper (Involuntarily subsidizing the parasite class since 1981)
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When their ocean going days are over they become homes.


76 posted on 05/12/2014 7:21:47 AM PDT by deport
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To: BlueMondaySkipper

Curious, being a float house how does the ownership work with regards to it being
on a public lake. Do you have to lease that part from the lake ownership?


77 posted on 05/12/2014 7:29:40 AM PDT by deport
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To: MoochPooch

I’ve met many women over 35 who’ve had to find alternative housing quickly after leaving an abusive husband. Some people need a break in life until they can regroup and become independent.


78 posted on 05/12/2014 7:35:35 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam
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To: deport

It’s in a marina harbor and we rent the buoy location from them. Norris Lake in Tennessee has about 1800 floating houses of various sizes and qualities.


79 posted on 05/12/2014 7:36:08 AM PDT by BlueMondaySkipper (Involuntarily subsidizing the parasite class since 1981)
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To: BlueMondaySkipper

I love it!!! Good for you.


80 posted on 05/12/2014 7:39:54 AM PDT by sheana
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