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I recently attended the first meeting in a ten part series that will ultimately result in a tiny house prototype for homeless people.  It was facilitated by Rochester Greenovation in Rochester, NY rochestergreen.org.  The idea is to build a tiny home from salvaged materials such as pallets and old windows.  The first meeting involved brainstorming with members of the group and sharing ideas about the design.  In ten weeks, we should have a prototype.  This installment of my blog is intended as a resource for group members, but it could be useful to any other individuals or groups contemplating similar projects with similar goals.    


I will try to update this post as I find additional helpful material.  I'll start with a video about pallet types and how to break them down. 



Nine people attended the meeting, including me.  I enjoyed meeting everyone, and I thought there was a good discussion.  Some of the talk caused me to think of some work by the tiny home designer, Michael Janzen. What follows is from his website http://www.ninetinyfeet.com



Here is a silent & brief video he made of one of the tiniest houses imaginable.  A true microhouse.  It's kind of a pretty outhouse with a front porch and a sleeping loft.  That probably sounds gross, but it's not.  The cylinder you'll see inside represents a five gallon bucket for a sawdust composting toilet.  His two other designs below also have the sawdust composting toilet, plus sleeping space, tiny kitchen, storage, rainwater catchment, greywater treatment, personal garden, and shower.

Metal roof catches rainwater and sends it to collection tank on trailer tongue.

Same design as above showing south side w/ solar panels, grey-water treatment, and garden.

This design might be light enough to tow w/ a bicycle.  It also catches rainwater, treats grey-water and has a garden.

Wondering where you'd sleep?  Plywood shelves fold down at counter height creating a platform perfect for a mummy style sleeping bag.

gallery-of-homeless-shacks
tiny-bicycle-houses

More ideas...



Results of the charrette that took place during our second meeting:


As a member of the group, I do have some concerns and reservations about this notion of building an 8'x10' moveable shelter for a homeless person.  I think that there are some important and very real problems that need to be solved.  They are as follows...


Propane heat.  Fire is dangerous, especially in a confined space.  Propane heaters require propane (expensive) and would need to be vented in such a small space because of condensation and carbon monoxide.  Vented propane heaters such as the one in the video above are expensive, and not found in the waste stream. 

Electric heat  requires electricity.  If we have a means of hooking our tiny house up to a reliable source of electricity then fine, but where will a homeless person find that legally?  In my view, the idea that we can have a solar panel and battery to provide this electricity is unlikely.  We will not find many solar panels in the waste stream, and batteries that are will most likely not work, which is why they are in the waste stream to begin with.  Further, even if you did acquire a working battery, it would take a very long time to charge up with a good solar panel and optimal conditions.  Then, since most electric space heaters use 800 to 1600 watts while running, they would drain the battery very quickly and there would be none to spare for lighting or any other electrical use.