PORT TOWNSEND — An advocacy group seeking to create a development of tiny houses — each less than 250 square feet — to provide shelter for the homeless has a good idea but needs to find a different location, according to a Jefferson County commissioner.
The Affordable Housing Action Group is raising funds now to build a prototype house it will use to generate interest and financial support.
The prototype would cost between $5,000 and $6,000 to construct with volunteer labor, the group said.
By Sunday afternoon, the group had raised $1,020 in donations out of a goal of $5,000 at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-tinyhouse.
The goal is to set up five of the structures in a park adjacent to the Tri-Area Community Center in Chimacum to house a few of the estimated 355 homeless in Jefferson County.
District 2 Commissioner David Sullivan supports the concept but said the location at Chimacum Park and Campground is not feasible.
“They have a good idea but need to find another place to do it,” Sullivan said.
“It’s a very complicated and expensive process to rezone and reclassify park land, so they need to acquire land to build what is essentially a housing development,” he said.
The park is now closed to camping while the county seeks a group to adopt the park, according to the Jefferson County Parks and Recreation website at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Chimacumpark.
Members of the Affordable Housing Action Group — a Jefferson County organization that coalesced around Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship after last year’s regional forum on homelessness — have addressed the commissioners several times during the year seeking to begin the park designation process, Sullivan said.
The request has been repeatedly declined, the commissioner said.
“They seem to be stuck on this place and I’m not sure why,” Sullivan said.
“[The board] would rather they focus on something more realistic.”
Finding a location is a long-term goal, said housing action group member Jan Krick last week.
Top priority
The first priority is to build a sample house.
The group is recruiting volunteers to help build the house on successive weekends — next weekend, Jan. 2-3, and Jan. 9-10 — at 231 Quail St. in Port Townsend.
Once built, the house would be moved around to stimulate interest in the project, Krick said.
In addition to donations from the fundraising website, another $1,000 is in a First Federal account, Krick said.
The First Federal account is under the name of the Affordable Housing Action Group.
Group’s plans
According to the plans, each house would measure 8 feet by 12 feet and contain a sleeping loft, running water, a small bathroom and a cooking area.
The houses would fill very basic needs, said Krick, adding that if the Tri-Area center were nearby, it could provide larger cooking, toilet, laundry and showers, Krick said.
The group would like to locate five houses in the park with the eventual goal of building 15 throughout the county, Krick said.
“If people don’t have a roof over their head, they can’t possibly find a job,” Krick said.
“Once they have a home, they can fill other basic needs, like getting food stamps, bus passes and other things that will make their lives work for them.”
In November, a spokeswoman for the housing action group, Barbara Morey, told about plans for tiny houses at a regional forum in Blyn for shelter providers in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
She said that the Chimacum location would be ideal because it is near the Tri-Area food bank, Jefferson Transit bus stops, medical services, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and other resources for those lifting themselves off the streets.
Sullivan lauded the tiny house idea but said the group must acquire land, possibly from a church, and perform all of the contractor duties themselves.
If it uses park land, the county is obligated to bring it up to its infrastructure and plumbing standards.
“I hope they can find a place,” he said.
“They seem to have a good idea but want other people to do the work, and there’s no funding.”
The idea isn’t new.
At the November homelessness forum, Theresa Slusher, housing stability manager for the state Department of Social and Health Services, told about Quixote Village, a community of 30 small cottages serving previously homeless adults in Olympia and said that similar self-governing, tiny home villages are located in Portland and Eugene, Ore.
Several insulated wooden structures have been erected at The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Seattle, KING-TV reported last week.
The homes are about the size of a bedroom and will have electricity. Those who are homeless and living there will pay $90 a month as a utility fee.
The site is expected to open Jan. 4.
For more information about the Jefferson County project, write affordablehousingactiongroup@gmail.com.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
