Greater Seattle is home to America's third-largest homeless population, right behind New York and Los Angeles. Former Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan was a strong advocate for the #homeless population, and said that the city needed "more humane, more safe spaces for people to live and be so we don't have tents on our streets, garbage on our thoroughfares."
To help solve the problem, Durkan pushed to build a number of tiny houses in villages that would offer shower facilities, shared community kitchens, functioning restrooms, and community spaces. Dedicated case managers would assist village residents in transitioning off the streets, advising them in regards to unemployment with the goal of helping them find long-term housing.
Since that time, under the direction of Seattle's Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI), 700 tiny homes have been built in a total of 10 different villages. Seattle has been working hard to combat homelessness. However, they’ve received pushback from voters as well as the City Council who wished to clear out these homeless camps in favor of placing their residents into standard shelters. The villages have struggled to find the funding they need in order to operate.
Tiny house villages are a more viable option than traditional shelters, which cost millions in construction and encounter obstacles with city zoning when identifying potential sites. By comparison, A tiny house village can be built in less than six months, only costing between $100,000 and $500,000. Moreover, the residents themselves are able to democratically participate in the daily onsite operations. This gives them a much-needed sense of purpose and community.
The villages are a more humane option than standard shelters, which segregate based on gender. Very often families and couples are separated, and teenage sons cannot live with their mothers and sisters. The Whittier Heights Village, for example, specifically looks out for vulnerable groups such as women with pets, pregnant women, single women, seniors, and same sex couples, allowing them to stay with their partners and families.
Tiny house villages promote a sense of community and wellbeing among their residents, and they are a great step towards mitigating the plight of our area's homeless individuals. We need to start by providing aid at the source of the problem as opposed to covering up the problem by sticking them in shelters.
