Already an eventful day! This housing for the homeless, low income, seniors, disabled and veterans is the biggest dream of my life and I will not become discouraged!!!! I know that there is a lot to do and I know that I have no idea how to even get started but I DO know people who have the knowledge and experience that I do not have. I have placed a phone call to a friend who has a non-profit that helps other non profits get started and am not so patiently waiting for a call back. I know that she is a very busy woman and I know that she will call when she can. I also know that I am only human and I want it RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!

Now may be a good time to list my vision from God. Yes crazy as it may sound to some, I do think that this is a God inspired idea.

Initially, I think we need about 10 to 20 acres of land and I would like to be able to build about 10 small homes to start.
The homes should be energy efficient, designed to maximize storage and function. No stairs or ramps in half of the homes.
There should be room for a community garden- to reduce food costs
Alternative power, either windmill or solar- to reduce energy costs
Clubhouse- To serve as an office and for get-togethers, home schooling, after school care, extra storage space for seasonal items etc. WiFi hotspot
Plenty of outside lighting
A small outdoor recreation area with trails for walking

image is from westhomeplanners.com
and is not an actual design for a house
in this project -yet

Ideally, we can get the Savannah School of Arts and Design's School of Architecture to design the house plans---NO promises on that but I do have a call in to the Dean of the School Architecture and I am hoping for a call back today.










Cost Projections
 Structural insulated panel (or structural insulating panel), SIP- about $4 to $6 per sq ft
 A well-built home using SIPs will have a tighter building envelope and the walls will have higher insulating properties, which leads to fewer drafts and a decrease in operating costs. Also, due to the standardized and all-in-one nature of SIPs, construction time can be less than for a frame home, as well as requiring fewer tradesmen. The panels can be used as floor, wall, and roof, with the use of the panels as floors being of particular benefit when used above an uninsulated space below.
Land -

Who am I?
I am truly no one special, just a woman with a few thoughts that may be worth sharing.
First you should know that I am 63 years old, have the appropriate number of gray hairs and wrinkles for my advancing years. Nothing has ever come easy for me. I have worked hard for everything that I have and I think that makes me appreciate it all the more.

This is me

A couple of  years ago, I ended up homeless for a few weeks (Jan. through March). I spent a few weeks in a homeless shelter,sleeping in one of the 2 rooms that served about 30 women and their children. We were not allowed to have pillows or blankets so at night the heat was turned to blast furnace. There was a bathroom with 3 toilets and 3 showers which meant that getting up early was a major priority! Then it was off to work in the freezing cold.     

                                              

I had a really crappy sales job with a company that was not doing too well so at one time I had on my person 4 paychecks that I could not cash because they were just plain no good. Renting an apartment was just not an option.Yet having a job, even a crappy job, was better than not having a job. I also had a car- not much of a car but it did get me to and from work everyday. I still have the same 1990 Toyota that I had 2 years ago. It needs some work but it still starts every time I crank it up and that means that I will keep it for now!     

Now I have a better job and it comes with a really cute 2 bedroom apartment! I love my job and the people that I work for.

This is my apartment
Not a bad looking place and all of the  the furniture was a grand total of $100

I AM WELL AND TRULY BLESSED!!!!

And that brings us up to the present. I was setting at my computer a few weeks ago and saw an article on tiny homes. "What a great idea" I thought. "I would love to have a tiny home". I did a lot of research and decided that I could build my own tiny home, That would mean that I would have a nice cozy place to live when I get too senile to continue to do my job. They are inexpensive, especially if you build it yourself with no permits or inspections if you build it on a trailer base. They are energy efficient and just enough room for my 2 dogs and me!

This is Georgia

This is Roxie

                                                                    

      I was so excited about the tiny house that I was planning to build that I called my dear friend to tell her of my brilliant idea. To my surprise she knew all about tiny houses and wanted one for herself!  A few weeks later she came to visit for a few days and we went to lunch with another friend and her daughter and grandson.

      The next thing I knew we were in a chat about tiny houses and all of us wanted one. Some where during lunch someone had an even more brilliant idea--- why not build a community of tiny houses???? A multi-generational community with single moms and seniors and veterans and homeless families. Of course that might mean that some homes would have to be a bit larger than others. Some would have to be wheelchair accessible, senior friendly and some would need to have 3 bedrooms while some would only need 1 or 2 bedrooms. So now we are looking at micro houses on foundations.So in the end we settled on having a combination of tiny homes (less than 300 sq ft) and micro homes (300 to 600 sq ft). And the idea for a non profit social experiment was born.

     A grant writer is researching grants and someone else is writing a mission statement and someone else is talking to other non profits to figure out how to get this started. Mostly we are just testing the waters right now to see if it is even feasible.

So please say a little pray that we can pull this together and get 

some low cost, well built housing for low income people.