[personal profile] archerships
http://www.madhousers.org/shelter.shtml



The Mad Housers provide shelter to the homeless by building huts.

The huts are sturdy wood framed structures, 6' x 8' x 10'. Each hut has a gabled roof, a sleeping loft, a locking door, and a wood burning stove for both heat and cooking. The huts are not proposed to be permanent housing; instead, they are shelters which offer privacy, security, protection from the elements, and stability.

Huts are designed along the classic KISS principle, and can be assembled with an inexperienced crew in about 50 total man-hours. Once assembled on site, the huts become the property of the clients. Usually, the client will then make additions and improvements according to their own ideas; in fact, many of the best design improvements have come from the clients themselves, who have the most practical experience with the huts.

The huts were originally expected to last only a couple of years. However, some huts have lasted over six years and are still going; pieces which have rotted are simply reframed and replaced with a minimum amount of fuss, and huts themselves are recycled to new clients as old ones move on and out of the huts. Of course, the huts weren't expected to be needed beyond a couple of years, but the scope of that problem is beyond our domain.

Date: 2003-07-18 08:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mary919.livejournal.com
If you ever get the chance, see "The Man Without A Past." It is set in a similar "neighborhood" in Helsinki. The simplicity of the lives depicted there was making me jealous :)

Date: 2003-07-18 08:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crasch.livejournal.com
Thanks for the tip--I'll look for it.

Date: 2003-07-18 12:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ilwitchgrrl.livejournal.com
When I was a kid, I used to fantasize about how I'd build little huts for the homeless when I grew up (naturally in my fantasy I was rich and could afford the materials to do so and the space provided for the houses), house them on my property, provide them shelter and an address, and help them find jobs and regain their independence. Maybe I should be a mad houser. :)

Date: 2003-07-18 10:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crasch.livejournal.com
Yeah! Do it!