Tiny houses a way off the streets for Wisconsin homeless

Reuters ^ | May 10 2014 | Brendan O'Brien

[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.

[Arrowhead1952]

Well, Austin TX is thinking of using 8X8X20 shipping containers for the homeless. I remember the troops in Bosnia living two per container. They had AC / heat and used the common latrines (bathrooms for those of you in Rio Linda) which were within easy walking distance.

[central_va]

Hooverville 1935

[ROCKLOBSTER]

The description of the tiny house mentions a bed, table and microwave oven but it doesn’t mention a bathroom (flush toilet/shower)?

Why would they need a shower? They stink. They're into it!

[libstripper]

Will this kind of thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting_toilet

really work in a 10 x 10 hut possessed by a vagrant or turn into a sanitary nightmare? There’s actually a reason why municipal authorities insist on proper septic systems or conection to sewers.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

These people all need to live on the town farm, under supervision.

They can work on the farm all summer and fall, and live throughout the winter on the crops and livestock they raise.

The able-bodied work the farm or help tend to the helpless and frail.

They can go look for real jobs during the week.

Those that refuse to work can life on stale bread and water.

[Lazamataz]

What wimps. I live in a 3-square-inch house. That’s what a MAN does.

[Ditter]

I was thinking of one for myself. Look at the link to Tiny Texas Houses on this thread.

[usconservative]

This is Wisconsin? How did they survive even one winter living in the streets?

Yeah, it's not like Madison has subways, underground tunnels, and a whole lot of bridges to seek shelter in like Chicago does.

I live outside Chicago and commute to the city daily for work. This winter was absolutely BRUTAL. The bitter cold, constant snow, ice, etc.. really took its toll.

It was so bad here back in January and February when we were sub zero temps with -40 to -60 wind chill's that the homeless I walk by daily had signs reading "Help me get out of the cold, $20 gets me a warm room, shower and a hot meail for a day."

For the most part, I'm a pretty cold hearted SOB (not that I'm proud of it, I just am what I am ...) but I gotta say I handed out a few $20 bills when it got really bad here and hoped & prayed that money really got used for a warm room and a shower.

[usconservative]

I’ve never been homeless but I lived out of my van for almost a year when I was in my teens. It gets old in a hurry.

Did that in a 1976 Mercury Comet for about 3 months back in 1986. Everything I owned fit in the trunk (mostly clothes.) Fortunately I had at least a part-time job at the time so I could put gas in the car to stay warm and had money to eat and wash my clothes. Truck stops on the interstate were the only place I could sneak in and get a shower to keep myself clean.

I was lucky that I got a break (full time job) and was quickly able to save up some money rent a cheap dormer/attic apartment in a safe neighborhood not far from where the job was.

Those were hard days to get through. I did it for 3 months. I don't think I'd have made a year like you did. I was pretty much at the end of my rope when my lucky break came.

[Bulwyf]

That’s why you have kids do the work, or the wife while I work, or if that’s too much, you hire someone to come in (which I don’t).

That’s just how they’re built up here.

[Bulwyf]

That sounds about right Tally, my mother grew up in a place about that size. Had two bedrooms and a bathroom that was outside heh.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I was thinking of one for myself.

If I was going to do that, I'd get a Chevy Express cargo-van, or one of those Chrysler/Mercedes diesel cargo vans and outfit it myself. Then I'd follow the Sun.

[Ditter]

You live in Maine, I can understand how you would want to follow the sun.

I live in Texas, the sun is here.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

That would certainly be one of my destinations. As well as a lot of the Northern Arizona area, and Continental Divide states.

Maybe a Big Muddy tour as well.

[PapaBear3625]

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.

One outhouse in a rural area is fine. A whole bunch of them, clustered, with a whole bunch of unsanitary users, is a recipe for a cholera epidemic.

[wideminded]

I wonder what city that is. A building in the background looks like the Smith Tower in Seattle.

[tallyhoe]

You know what you don’t need money to be happy you just need your family!! We didn’t know we were poor cause we were not poor.. We had each other.. Had good times and bad.

[central_va]

Central Park NYC?