Residents of Port Townsend on Saturday in Washington State received a tour of a newly built tiny home village.
About 400 people are estimated to have walked in to view the new tiny shelters, according to volunteer coordinator Debbi Steele.
Over a 3 month period, ten tiny homes have been built by volunteers in the field beside the Evangelical Bible Church on San Juan Avenue. Eight of them are 96 square-foot singles, with two of them being 160 square-foot doubles.
It was the first time the community was getting to see the completed tiny houses. As they milled around and looked inside the units, project volunteers, elected officials, Port Townsend City Council candidates, Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies and Housing Solutions Network members were there to chat with them and answer questions they may have had.
Residents of this community will pay rent at 20% of their income, with Bayside Housing – the non-profiting funding the project, helping them find jobs and longer-term housing. There will be a strict no-alcohol or drugs policy.
There is already a waiting list of 68.
This was the second community project, with the first one, named Peter’s Place, opening last winter beside Port Hadlock’s Community United Methodist Church. It was named after Peter Bonyun, the guy who spearheaded the project, and was also built by volunteers.
The need for affordable housing became even more apparent following the pandemic, when homelessness and evictions went up in Jefferson County. Local authorities are thus encouraging such projects.
Indeed, land for the next tiny house village has been secured at 10th and Rosecrans streets.
Read: Backyard Garage Converted into Modern Tiny House in Seattle
