Tiny Homes for Homeless Youth

by Mrs. Duncalfe

"As a Guerilla Movement, Tiny Homes May Emerge as an Alternative to Shelters," by Cheryl Corley

The title of the article I read is "As a Guerilla Movement, Tiny Homes May Emerge as an Alternative to Shelters." The article, published by National Public Radio on May 4, 2016, was written by Cheryl Corley. The article outlines several reasons why Chicago is concerned about its homeless youth population. For example, while many organizations exist nationwide to help homeless veterans and homeless adults in general, few target the thousands of teenagers who are kicked out of their homes because of their sexual orientation. Because these children are homeless before they even reach adulthood, they don't have the opportunity to build the foundation needed to create a sustainable future for themselves. This initiative in Chicago is designed to reach homeless LGBT youth for their benefit as well as for the community at large. When a city's citizens are able to provide for themselves, the whole community benefits.

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Westboro What?

This house was painted all the colors of the rainbow as an act of protest against the hateful rhetoric of Westboro Baptist Church. The houses being built in Chicago are specifically targeted toward homeless LGBTQ youth.s

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A Winning Design Team

Lon Stousland (left,) Marty Sandberg and Terry Howell are the winners of the American Institute of Architects tiny homes competition. They posed inside the prototype of their design.

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Tiny House, Big Heart

The winning design for the American Institute of Architects' competition to design a tiny house community for Chicago was built in two days and displayed at the University of Illinois, Chicago campus.

What next?

I think that what will come next is that some people may argue about the cost of these tiny homes and say that housing homeless youth enables them to remain homeless and doesn't teach them to take responsibility. Any time one group of people is thought to receive "something for nothing," people who believe they've worked and everyone else should have to work too, fight back against this kind of giving because they see it as a hand-out instead of a hand-up.

What I hope happens is that currently homeless youth will have safe places to stay for as long as it takes for them to get on their feet financially and establish strong support groups that will continue to support them long after they are gainfully employed.