The Smaller the Better
How can tiny houses help minimize or even eliminate homelessness and help others in need?
By:Precious Sawi.
Throughout history we as Americans have always been about expanding. We want the big houses, the big expensive cars, and to be the most successful person around. Now although there is nothing wrong with wanting that lifestyle except the fact that the world is becoming greatly overpopulated. We live on a planet with approximately 7 billion plus people, and with a very small decreasing rate compared to how fast we are increasing, it has become very hard to accommodate so many. Although there is a great solution to this which is known as the Tiny House Movement. According to the tiny living resource The Tiny Life, “Simply put, it is a social movement where people are choosing to downsize the space they live in. The typical American home is around 2,600 square feet, whereas the typical small or tiny house is between 100 and 400 square feet”. Now all though this may sound like a crazy jump many people have been really satisfied with their tiny homes and the tiny living lifestyle.
Source: Bill Dickinson/Flickr
Just as how tiny homes could help deal with accommodating for overpopulation by minimizing and by teaching us how to use living space more efficiently, it could also help by giving homeless people places to stay when the homeless shelters fill up and the streets become their only option. This wouldn’t only pertain to the homeless people that we see sleeping on the streets, it could also be used as an alternative to help out families that have been through some kind of disaster that has caused them to lose their home. Or simply by even helping the people out there that have lost their jobs and can no longer afford rent so they are forced to pack up and sleep in their cars or even on the streets in tents. This is where tiny house communities or villages would come into play.
Source: Boneyard Studios/designed by: Tony Gilchriest
Now you may be thinking of how it may be too expensive to build, how it is non efficient, or even how a hotel room would be more practical, etc. Well that’s where you’re wrong, tiny house villages or communities simply help people get back on their feet. The community members and families would be able to work as a team to take care of things in the village -help others in the community find jobs for themselves, help with chores, etc.- so that they may eventually be able to move out and find a new place to call their own.
Although building all these communities may be quite time consuming and somewhat expensive due to how some places such as San Francisco and Oakland which have an increasingly large amount of homeless people. According to the ABC 7 news report by Kristen Sze, “San Francisco leads the Bay Area in homelessness. The number of people on the streets of the city is nearly twice the number in San Jose, and three times the number in Oakland”. Instead of just pushing this problem off to the side shouldn’t we show a little compassion and tribulation to simply just help them out and provide them with some kind of shelter?
Source: Shareable
Now realistically it would be extremely hard to build tiny homes for that large amount of people but there is still a way to solve this problem. California-based artist Gregory Kloehn has turned ordinary trash into clean and cute tiny homes for some in Oakland, California. What he has done is transformed junk into low cost tiny homes perfectly fit for one and not only helped bring some off of the streets but has also created the Homeless Homes Project. The organization helps educate individuals on the importance of how tiny houses can help the homeless along with giving lectures and workshops on how to create these homes. If we were to partake in this solution then we would be able to create many low cost and efficient homes for those living on the streets.
Watch Gregory Kloehn talk about his tiny house calling.
With homelessness being a very serious but overlooked problem I feel that if we were to simply bring in some kind of interesting, stimulating aspect of how to improve it then I believe that we could cause a great impact in ending homelessness. Whatever happened to wanting to care for others and help them when they fall down? Shouldn’t we be working to improve this dying world instead of ignoring, neglecting, or even contributing to our decline?
