A Community of Tiny Homes Could Help Detroit's Homeless

Cass Community Social Services has developed a creative plan to help the city's homeless: build a community of tiny homes. It's certainly not the first tiny house community to help the homeless. Curbed Austin featured a story about their community earlier this week. But this program addresses a few key issues in Detroit.

The group owns two blocks of land north of its campus at Woodrow Wilson and Elmhurst. The plan is to build between 20-25 tiny homes, 300-400 square feet each.

Screenshot from Vimeo

People in need would rent these homes until they can earn the property (explained in the video below).

This development would address three critical issues:

• Turning the homeless into homeowners
• Bringing density to an area that has vacant lots and abandoned houses
• Creating inexpensive, green-friendly housing in the community.

Also,

"Finally, residents in the Tiny Homes will be able to access most of the other services available at CCSS - educational, recreational, nutritional, medical, mental health programs and as well as social activities. Everything will be within a few blocks (a short distance for a pedestrian or a cyclist). This will be a monumental improvement for people who don't have transportation."

The group has started a fundraising campaign for the project, which discusses these ideas in greater detail.

Screenshot from Vimeo

• Cass Community Social Services Fundraiser [Crowdrise]
• Tiny Houses in Austin Are Helping the Homeless, but It Still Takes a Village [Curbed Austin]