Tiny Houses for the Homeless: The Big Myth. Louis Shalako.

 

The challenge of 'narrowness'.

Louis Shalako

The Myth of the Tiny Home.

 

The tiny home, certainly as a solution for homelessness, is a sorry myth, just one more lie from the sort of people who really should know better.

Their plan calls for dozens of the things in the middle of a muddy bean field out by the airport…

Yet city council seems to think it’s a good idea. The only question, is where to put them—the fact the new homelessness encampment protocol calls for one hundred metres of setback, yes, you heard that right—one hundred metres of setback, tells you just how seriously they take themselves.

...essentially, they have made any new encampment both illegal and impossible, which is the result of their own rules. So, where you gonna put that...??? If I may inquire, what does that do for the homeless encampment you already have...???

So, I downloaded a PDF of ruled graph paper, and I can print out as many sheets as I need.

Let’s take a look at the structure itself.

Drawing.

Calculated at 410 sq. ft. although interior space would be a little smaller. Based upon an 8.5'W x 20'L x 8.5'T shipping container for the base. The floor of the upper space is framed with 2" x 6" spruce studs, the floor with 3/4" ply. This doesn’t stand up to the building codes you say. Fine, but then neither do tents pitched in a public park. With framing, insulation, vapour barrier and probably 3/8" drywall in the upper floor, and a bay window, lower left, a proper 3' x 7' door, windows with screens, a skylight upper left, and provision for a stove, what's missing is a floor plan and proper hookups for sewer, water, electricity and possibly gas. It is, of course,  uninsurable. (This is where all that very useful stigma comes in.) Where you put the steps in an 8.5' wide space is very important, I reckon they'd be at least 2.5' wide, hopefully with a straight run, although there is a case to be made for a turn part way up. Simple geometry dictates that a stair that climbs 8.5' at forty-five degrees requires the same length, right.

I really ought to check the geometry. With a 12’ rise from the second floor to the peak, the upper story is a bit of a sail in a really big wind, and you need to bolt that down, rather than just throwing a few spikes in there. The presumed occupant needs to be able to climb stairs, so it’s not for the disabled or the truly elderly.

In my view, it’s better to set the shipping container on a pad of reinforced concrete, rather than just letting it sink into a mud-hole. Services like water and sewage, whether it’s a septic tank or otherwise, must be in place. The shipping container would have to be carefully placed, as the holes for services have to line up.

The challenge of the shipping container house is that the width is limited to 8.5' or you're joining two together. Once you start cutting out large sections in order to do that, the question of loading comes into play, and why didn’t you just frame it properly in the first place. Going to the 40' length merely accentuates the problem. This 410 sq. ft. concept has a kitchen, bath and living room on the ground floor, and a loft style bedroom up above. So you walk in, and the landing for the stairs has two angled steps, turn right and up you go. The upper deck is wider in order to get headroom at the top of the stairs, and to make a livable space. Looking at the end view, you see the limitation of 'narrowness'. Also, the land, the services, those are fixed costs, relatively speaking, no matter how small or efficient the structure. A local guy built a tiny home on wheels, with fridge, stove, heat, toilet, shower, electricity, wifi, big-screen TV, water tanks, and what must be very small washer and dryer. He was asking $45,000.00 and didn't seem to get too many offers. The bathroom, under the sleeping platform, can't be five feet tall. It just can't. As for offers, or lack of them, that’s because the stairs go up to within a foot of the ceiling, and once you get a mattress onto the sleeping platform, you have eleven inches of clearance and you have to get out of bed in order to turn over.

Towing that overloaded, top heavy thing down the road must have been a real nightmare.

How in the hell he got that 25 k out to Reese’s Corners is a very good question. I reckon he’ll never do it again—

...terribly narrow, right.

Services like water and sewage, city or septic, must be in place and the shipping container would have to be carefully placed on a reinforced concrete pad. The holes have to line up.

Construction trailers.

The typical construction trailer is more like 12’ wide. You can get them down a road. They are insulated, some have heat and a/c, some have a washroom and holding tanks, presumably, for water and effluents. You can plug them in and run power from a portable generator.

City council is looking into building 80 sq. ft. doghouses for the homeless. With ‘wraparound’ supports, due to all the mental health addictions and stigma. They honestly think they can build them for five grand, and will set them down in a bean field, with one hundred metres of setback from all other roads, trails, parks, schools, retail, industry, ditches, trees, groundhog dens, pretty rocks or any other sidewalk, bus stop, or other amenities such as fire hydrants, ladies and gentlemen.

There are dozens of these in a field south of town...

Shortly after the 2018 municipal elections, county council voted unanimously for a five-year study of housing and homelessness.

It was a cop-out, it bought them five years of idleness, and they did nothing with it except bloviate at various housing summits, all of which were reported on by Canadian journalists, presumably with a straight face and without puking up a little bit into their mouths and having to swallow it all back down again.

The funny thing is, you can get a used camper trailer for five or six grand. Don't worry, that won't happen either.

 

END

 

Louis Shalako has books and stories available from Google Play. A Stranger In Paris is currently free in audio format.

Council Approves Inaction Plan for Microscopic Doghouses for ‘Our Most Vulnerable’ People.

(One year from now, there will not be a single tiny home anywhere in this municipality. - ed.) 

Everybody needs a home.

Thank you for reading.