Posted on 05/10/2014 11:12:32 AM PDT by PoloSec
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.
-SNIP-
"The village will bring dignity. We will have a fence and we will have community," organizer Trina Clemente said.
For Ybarra a tiny house means much-needed normalcy after many nights sleeping on cardboard.
"It's cozy," she added.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Maybe it is the solution, kind of like dorm rooms for college students. They can take care of it without it being overwhelming. How many times does that 1500 sqft or so overwhelm you for maintenance? I have to vacuum again; I have to put the toys away again.
Blame Jerry Rivera for that. He's the one who did a tv hit piece on the mentally insane an the facilities back in the 80's, I believe.
That’s about the size of the tin cabins members of my family lived in at the Arvin Labor Camp (basis of Grapes of Wrath), also know as Weedpatch Camp or Sunset Camp. My aunt and uncle had 4 kids so they had 2 cabins. One was for sleeping and one was for living in. No real windows, there were pieces of tin that propped open. No air and they used a hot plate to cook on. No running water either. Had to carry it from a hydrant. There were community bathrooms and showers though. The tin cabin in the pics behind the other building is what they lived in. There were probably 100 of them all set in rows in the camp.
http://steinbeckcountry.sutromedia.com/weedpatch-camp-arvin.html
How the Mortgage Crisis Forced Thousands of Americans to Live in Their Vans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3OFWYb4GWk
Interesting dude in a tiny cabin with instructions on how to install a tiny PV solar electric system. [I’d recommend studying a copy of the NEC and a tutorial book first, though, with an emphasis on safety.]
Solar electric system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLnZLypphgk
There are also elderly homeless that need help, have no families to take them in, no resources.
well when I was a kid we move into a Garage in Feb 1952 there were 4 of us then my parents added 2 more. I would say the house had about 500 to 600 sq ft!!!
There was some new-agey lawyer in the college town where I live who put a half-dozen tool sheds in her back yard and rented them out to people. All was well until one of them carbon monoxized himself and the city suddenly discovered she had a for-profit homeless camp in her back yard. Never heard much more about it. Since she’s a Lefty I’m sure all was forgiven.
Yes, good point. I assume most of the elderly are receiving public assistance (Social Security or Disability) so they have some income, albeit perhaps only at a poverty level. I think mental illness and addiction are probably a greater factor in the homelessness of the elderly. Choosing to live on the streets of Las Vegas so one can use one's check to spend on an addiction comes to mind.
Not many of them choose to have mental illnesses.
This thing, which, at 10’ x 10’, is the size of a tent one could buy for about $200, contains a sink and a composting toilet. “Composting toilet” is essentially the PC euphemism for an outhouse, with all the horrors using an outhouse entails. I know because, a while back, a relative of mine considered installing one, researched it, and discovered what high maintenance monstrosities they are. Each one of these monstrosities is actually a horribly unsanitary, high maintenance 10’ x 10’ one holer with the hole in one end. A whole community of them, occupied by the homeless, who are well known for their unsanitary habits and laziness, will quickly become a giant open air cess pool. Of course, that’s typical of Occupy communities.
What about sanitation?
you do not understand....... they live outdoors.
They sleep in the 10x 10
We lived in garage apartments back in the 1950s. It looks like the “progressives” are trying to cause a regression in the standards of living.
This seems like more symbolism over substance.
Per the article Madison, WI has under 4000 homeless people, they can’t find/make some kind of housing for that small a number of people?
Secondly, does this house even have running water? They say it holds a microwave and a “composting” toilet (whatever that is) but no talk of a sink or shower.
It would strictly be a weekends at the ranch kind of thing.
I did it! It works on anything! I cannot thank you enough! :D Now ICANSEE2! yEA!
You could set him up an outside camp kitchen for summer cooking.... I like gumbo, fried oysters, and a few kinds of deep friend fish lightly breaded like Alaskan Whitefish. Those are about all the fried foods I would eat, and I don’t care much for french fries. Maybe the occasional egg roll.
LOL!
I did wear out my welcome at all of my buddy’s parents houses parking in the driveway or back ally’s, sponging showers and free meals whenever I could ;’)
Actually it wasn’t that bad and I learned a lot about taking responsibility for myself, getting to work on time, staying organized (and compact!), etc. Winter wasn’t much fun.
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