Several Fauntleroy volunteers and their friends helped to build a tiny home at the Hope Factory in the SODO area on June 5th. We even got to give it a name, “Xanadu”, meaning “a perfect place”.
From a first-time Tiny Home builder:
“I was a volunteer wanting to help do the build and to learn more about how building tiny homes would get people off the streets. It was a fun project with tasks for everyone. As a group we raised the walls and attached them to the base floor and roof. They have experienced people to show you how to do everything. I even got to nail trim inside the house with a nail gun. The community aspect of providing tiny homes for our unhoused neighbors was personally rewarding.”
Here are some facts from their website: Sound Foundations NW and their parent organization, LIHI, have a proposal to get all of Seattle’s unhoused people, (over 9000 of our neighbors as of the most recent count), off the street and into tiny home villages in just 3 years! Their production rate will support this goal. Roughly four homes are finished per week.
In Greater Seattle, there are now 21 tiny home villages with about 750 tiny homes. Village residents have access to services like counseling, job placement, education, and substance treatment options. The median length of stay for a resident in a tiny home is 114 days before moving on to more permanent housing. That means that up to 3 people per year transition from tent communities into a tiny home, and then out to a better life. The homes are built to last 20 years, so one tiny home has the potential to help up to 60 people.
More information about the tiny home program can be found at their website: https://www.soundfoundationsnw.org. Please keep an eye out for future tiny home build opportunities, and you can reach out to the church office to get involved.
