'Occupy' Group Houses Homeless Couple for Christmas—Plans to House More in 'Tiny Houses'

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/occupy-group-houses-homeless-couple-christmas-plans-house-more-tiny-houses




For many couples, the thought of living together in a 96-square-foot house sounds awful. But for Chris Derrick and Betty Ybarra, it’s a Christmas miracle.

That’s because Derrick and Ybarra have spent the better part of a year braving Madison, Wisconsin’s often-harsh climate without a roof over their head.

They’ll spend this Christmas in their own home, thanks to more than 50 volunteers with Occupy Madison, a local Wisconsin version of the original Occupy Wall Street group in New York. The group, including Derrick and Ybarra, spent the past year on an innovative and audacious plan to fight inequality in the state’s capital: build tiny homes for the homeless.

In a city where an average home for sale costs nearly $300,000, many low-income individuals simply can’t afford somewhere to live.

[demmiblue]

1. K&R

[cinnabonbon]

2. Way to go, Occupy movement!

The more I hear about their plans, the more I like them.

[TBF]

3. My reply is always the same on these stories.

Happy to see Occupy working hard and the intentions are good. Also I think they will get more experienced (and therefore militant) as time goes on so all good there.

But I have a problem with billionaires existing in this country while so many are under or unemployed, hungry, and homeless.

Taxes, people. Raise them and redistribute. One family controlling more than 40% of the wealth in the country is not ok or fair by any stretch. This is not brain science.

[pinboy3niner]

4. Occupy!

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5. ...

[grilled onions]

6. Those Wishing That This Kind Of Project Will Fail Will Now Have Their Turn

From seedy boardrooms to shady council meetings the battle cry will begin. Not in my town! Not in my neighborhood! Not in my county!
For areas that have casual housing requirements they may stand a chance but in areas that are full of overpriced, overly large living space this will not sit well--this is the problem. They don't want to see homeless anywhere but they also don't want to see budget housing living anywhere near them. In areas where even a mobile home park is the next thing to living under a viaduct those in charge have little compassion to those seeking just a simple,basic shelter. The ones who object the loudest do not buy homes for shelter. They buy them for prestige. The bigger the home the more successful they appear. No way do they want the homeless to actually get decent accommodations.
I would love to see this project pick.How much nicer it would be to know on a rainy night,a cold winter night that many will have a cozy place to call home.

[Blanks]

7. The people who need this kind of support will have to go to those places...

Where these kind of domiciles are allowed.

If we try to take on those who object head to head - we will lose.

There are small towns all over the country that have been devastated by the collapse of small family farms. It makes sense to seek out a community and find one that encourages an influx of people who ask for very little.

I think the occupy movement has made more progress trying to fly under the radar than they did when they tried to confront the banksters head to head.

[loudsue]

8. Occupy is the best thing to happen to this country....maybe ever.

I think these folks are divine.

[Scuba]

9. +1