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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: JoeProBono

Install 150 of those per acre and see what it looks like.


21 posted on 05/11/2014 9:09:03 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." --Tacitus)
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To: JoeProBono
Nothing new under the sun.

Or the snow either.

22 posted on 05/11/2014 9:12:23 AM PDT by Fightin Whitey
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To: Doctor 2Brains

at least cheaper than motels to house them in...problem is many are drug addicted or with mental health issues.

It would be better to have a supervised dorm bldg with tiny effeciency apts..That worked out well for homeless Vets in NY city..all the services they needed were offices on the ground floor, voc rehab, computers for job applications, Va reps to help them register for health and mental healt care at the VA, etc.. No alcohol or drugs were allowed. The vets that were living there saw it as a transition, not permanent.


23 posted on 05/11/2014 9:14:55 AM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie
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To: TaMoDee
Several years ago, Austin, Texas was going to build homes, providing job training, psychological services, drug rehab, etc... for the "homeless". The all knowing City officials agreed to spend millions of taxpayer money on their feel good programs.

At one of the final meetings, someone asked if the city officials had thought to ask the "homeless" if they wanted homes, jobs, and other planned services? Nobody had thought to ask the poor homeless if they needed or even wanted help.

One of the local news stations interviewed several homeless and nearly everyone interviewed said they lived on the streets because they didn't want the responsibilities of having a home, working, paying bills, etc. They liked the freedom of living on the streets, under the radar.

I believe it was finally decided that the existing services provided by the local Churches and private sector, for the city's homeless, was more than enough.

24 posted on 05/11/2014 9:21:42 AM PDT by WesternPacific (The herded sheep have finally arrived at the slaughter house.)
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To: JoeProBono

Well... at least she was sweeping. LOL! But seriously, no matter how poor I am (and I have been POOR) I was always stringently tidy. Homeless people are not like that. I live in Los Angeles, man, they are disgusting. And every panhandler claims to be a Vietnam veteran.


25 posted on 05/11/2014 9:23:27 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady
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To: sheana

I have those boat fantasies too... I don’t know the first thing about boats, but man... I do dream about it.


26 posted on 05/11/2014 9:24:55 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady
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To: JoeProBono

I’ll take a whole bunch of number 6s over number 4s.


27 posted on 05/11/2014 9:31:49 AM PDT by redhawk.44mag
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Install 150 of those per acre and see what it looks like

A modern subdivision. Especially out here in Arizona.

28 posted on 05/11/2014 9:34:06 AM PDT by riri (Plannedopolis-look it up. It's how the elites plan for US to live.)
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To: JoeProBono

99 sq/ft? I’ve had bedrooms bigger than that (10x10)!!!


29 posted on 05/11/2014 9:37:20 AM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: A_perfect_lady

Many Homeless are just one of three things—A) Scam artists making a good living off of the public. B) Addicted adults who are looking for a fix or the next bottle of Booze, or C) Mentally ill people who should be in an instution to get the help they need.


30 posted on 05/11/2014 9:42:19 AM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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To: WesternPacific; A_perfect_lady

“Nobody had thought to ask the poor homeless if they needed or even wanted help.”

This.

“no matter how poor I am (and I have been POOR) I was always stringently tidy.”

And this.

Those who will not make an effort to care for themselves and will not accept help can’t be helped. They don’t have the same goals you do.


31 posted on 05/11/2014 9:42:34 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ("If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun" - Obama, setting RoE with his opposition)
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To: sheana

My dream too till I married an Iowa girl. I took her to the boat show when we first got married and the smallest boat she would agree to was a Golden Egg Harbor 64...


32 posted on 05/11/2014 9:51:33 AM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything.)
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To: ctdonath2

“no matter how poor I am (and I have been POOR) I was always stringently tidy.... Not bitchin’, not criticizing, not picking an argument, but there are NO poor in the US. The sooner we spread this truth, the faster we uplift everybody.


33 posted on 05/11/2014 9:51:38 AM PDT by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
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To: JoeProBono

I would hope Freepers would be a little more compassionate on this issue.
Getting some land and a smaller home, as say compared to a Mcmansion owned by the bank, seems to be the gateway to self sufficiency.

The other issue is - in such a living situation, coding, tax and other essential regulations are revealed as the corrupt, restrictions on freedom mandated by the state.


34 posted on 05/11/2014 9:54:17 AM PDT by dk88 (Outlaw)
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To: JoeProBono

Well, it beats this idiotic idea,
“New York Mayor Bill de Blasio presented plans to build and preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing in the next decade by increasing rent protections for the poor and requiring developers to include below-market apartments in newly zoned areas.

The $41.1 billion program, paid for with city, state, federal and private funds, would focus 60 percent on preservation and 40 percent on new construction. About $8.2 billion of the cost would be borne by the city, according to a 116-page report detailing the plan, which de Blasio called the “largest, fastest” affordable-housing program ever attempted at the local level.

De Blasio, 52, a self-described progressive and the city’s first Democratic mayor in 20 years, took office in January after describing income inequality as the most serious issue facing the most populous U.S. city. He turned his attention to housing today after pushing the state legislature in March to grant the city $300 million to institute universal all-day pre-kindergarten.”

That’s BILLION with a B!
More here http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-05/de-blasio-unveils-41-billion-plan-for-affordable-housing.html


35 posted on 05/11/2014 9:55:53 AM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything.)
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To: sheana

Aks me! Aks me! I’ll buy the damn thing! (You just clean the deck, scrape the barnacles and paint some of it every once in a while). Was that sexist/misogynist/ racist or homophobic or something? I don’t feel good about this post. Oh, well.


36 posted on 05/11/2014 9:57:25 AM PDT by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
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To: TaMoDee

My 37 yo nephew is a perfect example of why this won’t work.

I found him (and his dad paid for - including utilities) a 2 bedroom rental house in a passable section of the small town I live in. It was within 6 blocks of literally *everything* including the free stuff like the library, so he barely needed his bicycle. I helped get him a job at a local nursery that was close enough to walk to, but they actually gave him rides to and from work. A nice family owned business. My wife and I helped him in all sorts of ways.

He worked 3 weeks then stopped going (I told him he was going to end up back on the street - he said he did not care). He has depression and alcoholism and refuses to deal with it (nor will his dad get him to a doctor and on some antidepressants - total denial).

He then spent the next nine months drunk and drugged up. Still, he was housed, fed and off the street, right? Nope he proceeds to get arrested twice for public intoxication because he wouldn’t stay in his free house when he was loaded. At the end of a year he just walked off, no notice to the landlord (a friend of mine) leaving behind leaky pipes he never bothered to tell her about. Damn mess.

So he sold the stuff we gave him, bought a bus ticket to Florida and two days after arriving gets arrested for punching his druggie mother. Now, after two months in jail, he is living at his dad’s and no one knows what to do with him. 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.


37 posted on 05/11/2014 10:03:46 AM PDT by ChildOfThe60s ((If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there)
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To: A_perfect_lady

We actually own a 40 ft sailboat and if it was just me I could live on it. With another person? No way!


38 posted on 05/11/2014 10:07:38 AM PDT by sheana
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To: outofsalt

Well I wouldn’t want to live with another person on anything less than a 60 foot motor yacht....a 70 fter even better. At least double decks. lol
Just me? Our 40 ft sailboat would be fine.


39 posted on 05/11/2014 10:09:37 AM PDT by sheana
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To: Forward the Light Brigade

Many? I’d say MOST of them are one of those three things. Some of them are all 3.


40 posted on 05/11/2014 10:10:30 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady
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