Posted on 12/10/2020 6:31:59 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
As the sun began its afternoon fade, Willie Lyons stepped inside his new Conestoga-style hut, pounded a nail into a beam and hung a coat inside the tiny shelter made by volunteers that will protect him from the elements this winter.
Lyons, who is deaf, spent much of Saturday methodically moving his belongings from boxes and bags to become the first homeless person to move into a community of what will be 28 tiny huts that nonprofit Occupy Madison is building and placing at the former Wiggie’s Bar property at 1901 Aberg Ave. on the East Side.
As Lyons continued his move — laying bedding atop a raised wooden frame, setting up a light, table, and heater, storing clothing and food, and placing a small plastic chair on his tiny porch — volunteers used a jack and group muscle to set huts into spots near electrical hookups or did other tasks.
The Wiggie’s building, plastic still covering the bar, tables and chairs, is already an oasis and being renovated to offer restrooms, showers, washers and dryers, kitchen and dining area. Residents will decide future uses, such as a craft workshop and store, and/or a coffee or ice cream shop to make money to cover operating costs.
Meanwhile Saturday, 3 miles away, inside a building at 931 E. Main St., Barret Elward led a team of volunteers making parts for another 60-square-foot tiny hut, essentially wooden platforms covered by insulated fabric stretched over hoops recalling a covered wagon. The space, rented to Occupy Madison by nonprofit Common Wealth Development for $1 a month through December, hosts a rotating group of volunteers building huts seven days a week.
The construction space is near McPike Park, where Lyons, an Oklahoma City native who came to Madison in 2005 and has been homeless for five years, had been living in a tent in the city’s largest homeless encampment. Most people relocating to Occupy Madison’s tiny hut village will come from the McPike Park tent encampment. Others are sleeping in cars, shelters or the streets.
“It’s a miracle,” Occupy Madison co-president Brenda Konkel said. “This project has moved at lightning speed because over 1,000 people in the community have come together to volunteer to build houses, donate and help the project in so many ways. The city, county, and community members have worked in unprecedented ways to make this amazing thing happen in just three months.” Welcomed and supported
The effort is a more ambitious echo of Occupy Madison’s original tiny house village on a small parcel that once held an auto repair shop at 304 N. Third St. on the East Side.
The original village has five, 98-square-foot, permanent tiny houses costing $7,000 apiece, with privacy fence, landscaping, and the repair shop converted to a common area with restrooms, showers, makeshift kitchen, workshop and a store selling hand-crafted items made by residents. There is a greenhouse and large, raised-bed gardens.
Now, Occupy Madison is using emergency permission from the city to place the 28 smaller huts costing $2,000 apiece at the Wiggie’s site.
To get a house or hut, residents must put in sweat equity completing them, help run the village store or complete other activities, and follow rules. More than 50 people have expressed interest in a hut and many have attended orientation and become members of Occupy Madison, Konkel said.
“Its imperative that we get people in a place where they can be safe and warm for the winter, where they will be welcomed and supported by the community, where they can have basics like running water, heat, a place to go to the bathroom,” she said.
Eventually, the nonprofit hopes to relocate the huts to another spot and gain city approval to place 15 to 20 of the larger, more substantial, tiny homes at the Wiggie’s property next year. Building a community
Occupy Madison built its first tiny hut at the original tiny house village property, but moved indoors to the space at 931 E. Main St. in late October. On Saturday, Barret and three volunteers were completing bases — large wooden frames stuffed with insulation topped with plastic and flooring. The pieces are assembled in a loading dock area and the huts hauled to the village.
The Wiggie’s site is now screened by a 6-foot-tall privacy fence, and behind it, huts are being neatly placed along the fence in the parking lot in a semi-circle around the former bar building.
So what happened to the Wiggie’s Bar?
“To get a house or hut, residents must put in sweat equity completing them”
“sweat equity” - sure ... I remember when the Feds gave the Tribes (in the Pacific NW) brand new free inboard 25 foot fiberglass skiffs to gillnet salmon with - what did they have to do? Show up once a week and sweep the floor for a few minutes when they were sober - for the $18,000 it would have cost otherwise.
Thank you for that statement. Had a family member in that situation and he's back to his wonderful, productive self thanks to people who did just that.
10’ x 10’ is about the same size as the homes the first Plymouth colonists built, IIRC.
Where did he get the hammer and nail?
How cold does it get there? Wonder how many will burn down due to using electric heaters and who is paying the utility bill and property taxes?
MY Fleetwood double wide mfgd home cost $9/sq ft less than these huts.
I will bet that the property values in that area have plummeted.
Considering the price of real estate in Madison & surrounding areas, JOY TO THE WORLD !!!!!!
Plus, you don’t have to live with a bunch of crazies one hut over! ;)
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