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 ...
Being homeless is a choice.
I agree, though some folks are very mentally ill, it’s not very many that I’ve come across.
99 sq feet? where’s the pictures? I consider 1500 sq feet to be small.
There are some small number of people who have hit upon desperate times that you’ll occasionally find living on the streets, but by far and away, they’re mentally ill, have major substance abuse problems and often both, and cannot maintain shelter for themselves, they’re that dysfunctional. Some seem to actually prefer it. Homeless shelters fill up when the weather is bad. When it’s not, they don’t.
Not always.
December 24, 2013 8:50 am • By Dan Simmons | Wisconsin State Journal
Last spring, Betty Ybarra occupied a tent in a county park and with her tentmates dug
moats to discourage oncoming floodwaters.
Starting Christmas Eve, she and a tentmate will upgrade to a brand new “tiny home” they
helped build with aid from a variety of helpers including local colleges. It has a
roof, insulated walls, a toilet and a sink. Christmas lights hang outside it.....
The houses currently must be trailered around the neighborhood a couple of
times a week. City ordinance allows them to be parked on the street as long as
they’re moved every 48 hours.
The transient life will eventually end for the houses as it does for their occupants, Wallbaum said.
All have a sink and a composting toilet, and are heated using propane and solar panels.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I predict fires, solar panel failure, and sanitary issues.
1500 hundred square feet or smaller used to be the norm!!
Absolutely correct. As a triage interviewer at a local food bank, I speak with homeless people regularly. A large majority do not want a home. Mostly, they just want to be left alone. Also note: most of these folks have some mental problems, but won't seek help and don't want meds.
And they managed to burn bridges with every friend and family member who wanted to help them, because they chose to continue their destructive behaviors.
Most of the people I have come across who are homeless are mentally ill.
I am going to say that making them helpless and on the street was the long term intent when liberal judges forced the closing of most large mental institutions back in the mid eighties.
Coward Piven.
Probably deaths by carbon monoxide too.
I would bet these are not in compliance with zoning requirements and building codes.
Imagine the fun you would have with the zoning board and building inspector if you tried to build something like that for human habitation in most cities.
Cloward. Freudian slip I guess.
Unfortunately, yes. This is another facet of being homeless.
It is a spacious mansion compared to a shelter half, and I have spent months at a time living in those.
wonder if they have odd/even parking in the winter?
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