--- title: Tiny Houses for Homeless in Portland Oregon description: Portland Oregon to explore the use of micro-homes for the homeless canonical: https://time.com/3177905/tiny-houses-homeless-portland-oregon/ author: Anita Hamilton article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-26T17:14:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:27.211Z og:title: Tiny Houses for the Homeless in Portland og:description: A better solution than large-scale shelters? og:url: https://time.com/3177905/tiny-houses-homeless-portland-oregon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt326199553d1c6f15/6986a0de3bc99949a11a509f/ap751811691274.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2590 og:image:height: 1457 og:image:alt: Homeless in the Pearl og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tiny Houses for the Homeless in Portland twitter:description: A better solution than large-scale shelters? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt326199553d1c6f15/6986a0de3bc99949a11a509f/ap751811691274.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Portland Plans Tiny Houses for the Homeless > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d2e53879-46ce-4e16-9041-cafc35cd24cd&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Less Is More: The Tiny House Movement [Watch (HLS stream): Less Is More: The Tiny House Movement](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/s7y9TwUs.m3u8) (5:04)  _Published 2014-05-30. Can houses as small as 84 square feet on wheels be the future for urban housing challenges? Watch this video on simplified housing that benefits the affluent and the poor._ by [Anita Hamilton](https://time.com/author/anita-hamilton/) ## Anita Hamilton Aug 26, 2014 5:14 PM UTC  A person walks by the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp in Portland, Ore. on Oct. 4, 2013. A person walks by the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp in Portland, Ore. on Oct. 4, 2013. Don Ryan—AP by [Anita Hamilton](https://time.com/author/anita-hamilton/) ## Anita Hamilton Aug 26, 2014 5:14 PM UTC With an estimated 2,000 of its residents sleeping under bridges, on streets and in empty lots in a variety of makeshift shelters, the city of Portland, Oregon, is on a quest to provide more safe housing for those without a permanent address. Thinking beyond typical dorm-style shelters, it has launched a task force that will meet September 4th “to assess the viability of using tiny homes as a potential for housing houseless people,” says Josh Alpert, Director of Strategic Initiatives for Mayor Charlie Hales. Alpert hopes the first batch of homes will be ready for occupancy by late February 2015. The mayor’s office began looking into the idea of micro homes in June after housing advocate Michael Withey presented an idea to the city council based on designs by architecture firm TechDwell. Alpert says he envisions a pilot program in which up to ten structures are erected on four separate city-owned lots. The idea is to establish the micro communities in various neighborhoods “so that no one area is feeling overburdened,” Alpert adds.  TechDwell The tiny houses will be selected through a request-for-proposals process and will hinge on two key factors: cost and the ability to meet city and county building codes. Tim Cornell of TechDwell, who has already met with Alpert to discuss his prototype, says he can deliver micro homes that sleep two people and have bathrooms and kitchens built-in for $20,000 each. His FlexDwell prototype (shown at right) measures 16 feet wide and 12 feet deep and features a sloped ceiling that is 12-ft. high in front. Made of prefab materials available at Home Depot and Lowe’s, it includes two sleeping pods joined by a kitchen, bathroom and eating area. To save space, the bathroom shares a sink with the kitchen. “We could have them built on-site in 45 days” after an order is placed, Cornell says. Because the tiny houses offer dwellers more privacy than big shelters, they may appeal to people who are reluctant to give up the sense of independence that comes from living on the street. The micro homes could also be cheaper than temporary emergency shelters, which cost up to $16,000 a year and lack plumbing. “If there is a potential to get even one person off the streets, it’s worth trying,” says Alpert. “Simply having a roof over their head may enable them to springboard into finding a job.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ]. Everyone was talking about tiny house communities, but no one was really stepping up to say hey what would this look like. Let's just try it out. I know so many tiny house communities all over the US that are springing up. Tiny house movement is saying this could work for seniors for example. I think there really is a such a thing as the architecture of community. And that this is a big part of what makes this place work. It took me three months and $ 10, 000 and voila, a little house. Welcome to my little house. This is where I do all of my great thinking. So composting toilet. And then every night I carry my dog up to the loft. So I was living in Portland, Oregon. I had a three bedroom house that came along with a $ 250, 000 mortgage. [ MUSIC ]. And one day I collapsed in a grocery store and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. And all of a sudden all of these things that I worked so hard to get didn't make sense anymore. When I was a kid and asked to draw a picture of home, it was a triangle plopped on top of a square. And for some reason it, it seemed to make sense, like, if I can do this thing, everything would get calm. You know, less complex. [ MUSIC ]. I think, I think there are a lot of things that have led people to think about how they live. So kitchen setup pretty basic. I bring water in in this jug. I think the downturn in the economy. I think there are more and more people vying for precious real estate. One burner stove. That's it. Tiny houses like this are being viewed as a solution for homelessness. And, and I do think they are a good solution for that. [ MUSIC ]. The one that's here in Olympia, of Quixote village, it's networking with city planners to develop a governance, that, you know, gives people a sense of autonomy and control of their own destiny. [ MUSIC ]. In 2007 the City of Olympia had passed some ordinances involving the use of the downtown area sidewalks in particular that was really had a huge impact on the folks that were living on those sidewalks. Then, so, they a occupied a city block essentially. And that was the beginning of what became a mobile tent camp moving from church property to church property for pretty much the next seven years. Out of that grew the notion of a permanent site. The initiative to make tiny houses really came from the residents themselves. It became obvious that their preference, their desire was to have their own space but to still be in community because community was such a strong part of their lives. [ MUSIC ]. I walked in the front door of the community building and there is a guy ironing a shirt, getting ready for a job interview and I just cried. It was just such a simple thing to be able to iron a shirt to get ready for a job interview. We've seen across the country in Olympia, Washington, in Madison, Wisconsin, outside of Austin, Texas, some other initiatives anywhere from like ten to 40 sort of little structures for the homeless population. We're here at Boneyard Studios, which is a tiny house community we started here in Washington, DC, a couple years ago. Boneyard in awesome. There are all of these vacant lots in DC that aren't really buildable. In, in the case of Boneyard it was this little wedged shape piece of property across the street from a cemetery. Tiny houses on wheels, traditionally in the US have either been in built in kind of rural areas or someone's backyard, and people have been talking a long time about trying to build communities and we just wanted to try it out sort of a pilot. And the idea is that maybe some of those vacant lots could be developed into residential use to address urban infill and our need for more housing. Well it isn't just about little houses. It's about the community and about having that mutual support. My decision to right size myself, not only saved me money, it really expanded my sense of community. But, it's transformative. 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