A Tiny Solution to a Really Big Problem February 9, 2017 (Indianapolis, IN) Homelessness is a problem throughout Indiana and the nation, but its face has changed. People once thought of the typical homeless person as a single male–perhaps with a substance abuse problem–who visits each local homeless mission on a circuit.

Of course, one can still find people who fit that stereotype. But it’s not the face of today’s homelessness. Instead, it’s a homeless family–a single parent with children. The parent may even work; most of the homeless do. But he or she doesn’t’ earn enough to care for the children and pay for rent. Sometimes, it’s a two-parent family living out of a van or finding refuge at a homeless shelter. Today’s homeless are much like the families living next door to you, except they don’t have a door.

Some homeless advocates now think that a solution to this national problem might be the “tiny home,” the home-type made famous by Tiny House Nation, a popular series on cable TV’s the A&E Network. Last month, Leon Longyard, a community advocate, presented the “tiny home” strategy to a group that represented local organizations committed to combating poverty and homelessness.

Longard said that tiny homes could provide “adequate and sustainable shelter” for homeless Indianapolis families at a very reasonable cost—about $10,000 per home. The recent federal funding of $5 million to fight homelessness in Marion County could subsidize enough of these homes to provide the city with a useful tool to care for its homeless residents. In fact, the executive director of the Coalition of Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, Alan Witchey, showed support for such a project. He said that the best way to determine if this strategy would work for Indianapolis would be “by actually doing it.”

Though the Indianapolis homeless community is the largest in the state (4800-8000 individuals), other Indiana cities lead the way in employing this strategy to meet the needs of the homeless. Last July, Muncie’s Bridges Community Services, a non-profit community outreach, took delivery of six Amish-built tiny homes, each costing about $2600 (like the house pictured above). That delivery of tiny homes is part of the Bridges’ PennyLane project, a micro-village concept offering coordinated social services. The project is especially designed to meet the needs of homeless individuals who have proved difficult to serve in the past.

Anyone who has served the homeless community will follow with interest the Muncie project as it unfolds. Longard says, however, that it might take a long time before this idea becomes reality in Indianapolis. I hope that he’s wrong. Tiny home micro-villages with coordinated social services is an exciting idea. It deserves a careful trial. Indianapolis should catch up to Muncie.

David Richardson