A Mirco-Community is a Second Win

      Although the idea behind the action is in good faith, I don't believe that the way Second Win goes about trying to "rehabilitate" people into regular society is needed for every homeless person. I understand that it's hard to find a job when you don't have a home to bathe in, nowhere to brush your teeth, no mirror or products needed to groom your hair. I just wanna point out that it is also hard to try and interview for jobs when you have to carry all that you own with you, when you don’t have an address, and when so much time of your day is taken by trying to secure shelter for the night and possibly food for the day.

          As Dr. J said the day of the presentation; it’s not that these people don’t know how to take care of themselves. They just don’t have a home, which is what would make all these things a lot easier to accomplish. So, we need to give the homeless what they need; homes. Now who doesn’t think it’s a good idea for us to provide the homeless with homes? Who really wants to put the labor and money into making adequate living for homeless? 

       Now, what if I told you that there was a way to provide ample homes for the homeless, where rent was substantially cheaper, and the cost of building is at a minimum? The solution for homelessness that is providing exactly that is tiny homes for the homeless. There have been many that are trying to provide tiny homes (a house that is 100-400 sq ft. as opposed to the average American home which is 2,600 sq ft.) within open areas of their cities, to provide a tiny neighborhood for the homeless. I think that this is a step in the right direction.

         Some questions that are addressed in the videos are that within the first one, the place of the Mirco-community is that they do not have a permanent place for the housing to stay at as of now. Do you think that if this movement begins to pick up that this will be such a problem? Or that as the second video suggests that the current community will be hesitant by the potential of heightened crime? Are they simply thinking of the stigma of homeless people and not the actual people? It almost reminds me of the example Dr.J gave about Black No More, that the only thing different from the homeless and the home owners, should be solved once the homeless find a home. But now it becomes a question of violence and potentiality of their tiny homes bringing down the equity of the housing market in that area. I think that if Second Win partners up with shelters and be a possible advocate of the micro-communities, being able to provide not only lessons, job opportunities, and makeovers; but homes. I think that the idea has some real potential.