Creating Clean, Safe, Affordable Places to Live — Tiny Houses and more.

Home » Creating Clean, Safe, Affordable Places to Live — Tiny Houses and more.

Last spring I visited Quixote Village in Olympia and suggested we should build 1,000 small houses region-wide for those who want to live in compact affordable homes or to bring people who are homeless in from out of the rain. You can read my views here.

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Courtesy of Panza

Panza, a faith-based non profit working with the City of Olympia built 29  8 x 18 units for roughly $19,000 each.  The people who moved in had formerly been living in tents.  They now live in community with case management workers and job assistance counselors close by to help them build their lives anew.

I suggested that if every city and unincorporated area in King County did its pro rata share based on population, we could readily build spaces for 1,000 people who need homes.  Yes, our One Night Count of homelessness last year was triple that number, but building 1,000 small units would be a very helpful start.

Portland is leading the way for a “tiny house” movement to build homes that can be built over a long weekend (Learn more about Portland’s efforts here). If you want to see HOW these tiny homes are built, see this link.

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Photo courtesy of The Oregonian

What other ideas for affordable housing and dwelling spaces have you seen that work?  Please send them to me at sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov.  I want to broaden this conversation.