Portland has established seven villages filled with small pre-fab “sleeping pods” as a form of transitional housing.
Courtesy: City of Portland/KLik Concepts
Can Tiny House Villages Be a Homelessness Fix?
Portland, Oregon, has been a pioneer in using the trendy mini-homes as homeless shelters, but debates about the effectiveness of the approach persist.
Since late December, home for Jonathan G. has been an eight-by-eight-foot shelter on a parking lot in southwest Portland, Oregon. Inside, there’s just enough room for a mattress and some shelves. But the tiny pre-fabricated structure has something very important to its lone occupant: a door that locks.
“Before, I’d go to lunch and come home [to my tent] and half my stuff was taken,” says G., who has been living in homelessness since 2021 and requested anonymity. “Here, you don’t have to worry about leaving your place and having stuff stolen.”