$130,000 for a ‘tiny home’? Viewers have other tips for homeless housing

Tent cities on golfing classes, Quonset hut villages, school dorm-type complexes, repurposed shopping malls and warehouses — these are amongst the lots of thoughts shared by our viewers around the many years to ease the struggling of persons residing unhoused in Los Angeles. Now, with $130,000 “very small houses” in Los Angeles drawing scrutiny, readers are the moment once again brainstorming approaches to construct far more shelter in a region beset by housing scarcity, a looming mass-eviction disaster and bizarrely climbing home costs all through a pandemic.

© (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Situations)
A resident of the small home village in Riverside walks to the popular shower location. (Los Angeles Occasions)

The way many of our readers reply to articles or blog posts on homelessness is not in contrast to how they respond to our protection on wildfires, another extensive-expression, intensifying difficulty in Southern California: with ideas, some of them probably not workable, but a lot of worthy of airing, if only to present how deeply invested in the collective properly-remaining our visitors are. And giving these concepts print place may possibly encourage a person in electricity to come to a decision one particular or two are value discovering.

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Neil Kaufman of Los Angeles wishes funding for granny flats:

When the point out of California determined to make accent dwelling models a solution to the housing crisis, it improved design specifications that had been in force given that my times in architecture college in the 1970s.

Whilst these alterations permitted more independence, little else was performed to help facilitate the financing of these models. If we as a group want to pace up this kind of building, probably the condition could enable with financing as it does with so much other housing already.

Gregory Perez of Northridge believes levels of competition may possibly develop a alternative:

I concur that the $130,000 price tag tag for a “tiny dwelling” is stunning. Nevertheless, relatively than asking Metropolis Hall for options, I believe Los Angeles would get considerably additional for its funds by providing graduate learners at neighborhood universities a $130,000 prize to come up with the very best idea.

Ask them to design and style “compact housing” that is risk-free, functional, visually satisfying, economical and straightforward to set up and eliminate as needed. The winner could be decided by an unbiased panel of area architects and the city’s building agencies.

Let us get the ideal and brightest engaged as quickly as doable to assistance fix one of the most urgent troubles of our time.

William K. Solberg of Los Angeles relates what he figured out from speaking to homeless persons:

Towns like Seattle and Riverside create little homes for a fraction of the price in Los Angeles, with planners being aware of the pros of supplying inhabitants a collective stake in their group.

In my interactions with homeless citizens of Los Angeles, I see numerous people today who feel equipped to function, some who glimpse like possible leaders and numerous who consider pride in preserving their location thoroughly clean.

The city of Seattle deserves credit for producing a social model “with inhabitants all doing chores and, at some, using section in self-governance.” Supplying homeless individuals a stake in the recreation is a recipe for a thriving village of tiny homes.

This tale initially appeared in Los Angeles Instances.