Tiny Homes for Hope
Midcoast Habitat for Humanity’s first Women Build of the season is a successful collaboration of hope for sustainable impact.
Once again the teamwork of Midcoast Habitat for Humanity and Knox County Homeless Coalition is producing innovative and exciting solutions to some of our communities most pressing problems. After their recent collaboration on a system for coaching formerly homeless individuals through a year-long program to help them become sustainable and eligible for a Habitat home, the groups are coming together again to address the need for transitional and year-round supportive shelter within proximity to jobs for Mid-coast Maine’s most vulnerable populations.
From May 8-12, Midcoast Habitat for Humanity with their Women Build teams constructed the first of hopefully many tiny accessory structures that could become the prototype for expanded capacity for supportive shelter at the Hospitality House. The hope is that one day they could be constructed in grouped supportive community settings, with amenities in a common facility, allowing families structured stability while they work toward their goal of permanent self-sustained housing. This supportive model has been successful in many parts of the country with shelter and housing available to clients with varying levels of increased independence and responsibility on a continuum of care from trauma to successful and sustained independence within the community.
This expanded capacity is only one step on the road to addressing the needs of our region. Research shows that the primary driver of homelessness among families is a lack of access to affordable housing. Nationally, the affordable housing shortage is at a rate of only 29 units available for every 100 extremely low-income family renters. In tight housing markets like ours, that can be even more severe.
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