Last Wednesday at City Hall, in the offices of the City Council President, we had a meeting with several Department Heads to discuss a plan that we have been working on for a considerable period of time.
With the help of Architect, Mr. Jay Orr, AIA we were able to put together several architectural renderings of converting 40' steel containers into homes for the homeless. While this concept of converting these containers into housing, especially if you are an advocate of Tiny Homes, you are aware of such conversions being accomplished in the past.
This housing fits on plots of land owned by the city of Baltimore, where houses have been demolished due to their deteriorated conditions and will be filled in with these retrofitted converted containers with suitable space for a family of three. Utilizing the concept of keeping the neighborhood fabric in line with other houses within the area, we simply created houses that fell within that plan. These converted houses look precisely like every other Row Houses that Baltimore is famous for, so neighborhoods will be pleased to have them in their neighborhood.
We propose that the conversion process will move ahead at $75. per square foot, well below the national average for a new home and will feature a single bathroom, two bedrooms and kitchen and dining area. One of the bedrooms can have a sofa convertable to a bed for the evening and the other bedroom will have bunk beds with 9' ceilings, a back yard and parking pad, with a small wrap around porch in the front, all of which is consistent with our neighborhoods in the city.
Detroit had previously been involved in the Tiny Home concept, but they were built for the suburbs and this new design will be an urban development.
These will not be rental units, but rent to own units after a suitable period of time and the Homeless Services Department will offer wrap around services to the new owners of this property to assist them into transitioning into home ownership. They will come and visit the new owners and work with them so that learn about home ownership, working within the neighborhoods and just existing in a new home of their own.
At the end of the meeting all were in agreement to move forward on this project and we hope soon to see these homes being set up and having people that have been forced into a homeless condition be able to move forward with dignity and respect.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
The need continues
Each year I am amazed that the problem of homelessness continues to grow and grow. Despite the efforts of many people, foundations and groups attempting to curtail the ebb and flow of the homeless, the numbers continue to pile up.
I met a younger man today who was clipping some hedges across the street from my house and engaged him in a conversation to ascertain if he wanted to make a few dollars doing the hedges of St. John's UMC next to my house. At the age of 75 I am getting a little old to take out the clippers and do it myself and I would like the area to look a little nicer for our residents. We talked for a moment and he told me that everything is getting worse, with the fears of not having Social Security and no chance to save money for the future. I mentioned that at running our weekend survival kit that we were hoping to do our part to bring about positive changes for the homeless children in our city of Baltimore. He thanked us and said that what hedge did we want clipped and we showed him the area that required the services. He said that he would give us a card of an individual who would do it for free and I explained to him that we would prepared to pay a nominal amount, but he wouldn't hear of it. What a wonderful person to offer to assist us in this need which has shown me once more that there are good people out there who are willing to go the extra step to help a neighborhood and people who just need a little help. That really impressed me and made me think that we need to tell the world about these people who will do these things, because unfortunately few will. I fully intend on paying him something for his work, but to him I want to say publicly, "thank you kind person. This man is not rich, nor does he know anything I would presume about drop down economy that states if you give to the rich, the poor will received benefits. He just is doing what he believes is right and that is what we all most do to make sure that homeless children and their families are fed on a regular basis. We don't really need these large banquets where a family gets two meals a year and the supporter says to themselves what a nice person I am, what we need in this country is a continuous flow of food being given to the homeless to ensure that they are fed on a daily basis.
We need to take poverty as a Father or Mother takes the work of raising a family and make it our overall concern and do better to make sure that the children, who are the future, have an opportunity to grow and develop. We must now as a nation rise up above this reckless government that is only supporting the richest of the rich and say NO MORE. We cannot stand idly by and do nothing, because when we say NO MORE and do something we may just save a child so that they can be the future of our country. So the next time you hear, see or know of a homeless people, reach deeply into your pockets and give just some of the money to make their lives a little better.
I met a younger man today who was clipping some hedges across the street from my house and engaged him in a conversation to ascertain if he wanted to make a few dollars doing the hedges of St. John's UMC next to my house. At the age of 75 I am getting a little old to take out the clippers and do it myself and I would like the area to look a little nicer for our residents. We talked for a moment and he told me that everything is getting worse, with the fears of not having Social Security and no chance to save money for the future. I mentioned that at running our weekend survival kit that we were hoping to do our part to bring about positive changes for the homeless children in our city of Baltimore. He thanked us and said that what hedge did we want clipped and we showed him the area that required the services. He said that he would give us a card of an individual who would do it for free and I explained to him that we would prepared to pay a nominal amount, but he wouldn't hear of it. What a wonderful person to offer to assist us in this need which has shown me once more that there are good people out there who are willing to go the extra step to help a neighborhood and people who just need a little help. That really impressed me and made me think that we need to tell the world about these people who will do these things, because unfortunately few will. I fully intend on paying him something for his work, but to him I want to say publicly, "thank you kind person. This man is not rich, nor does he know anything I would presume about drop down economy that states if you give to the rich, the poor will received benefits. He just is doing what he believes is right and that is what we all most do to make sure that homeless children and their families are fed on a regular basis. We don't really need these large banquets where a family gets two meals a year and the supporter says to themselves what a nice person I am, what we need in this country is a continuous flow of food being given to the homeless to ensure that they are fed on a daily basis.
We need to take poverty as a Father or Mother takes the work of raising a family and make it our overall concern and do better to make sure that the children, who are the future, have an opportunity to grow and develop. We must now as a nation rise up above this reckless government that is only supporting the richest of the rich and say NO MORE. We cannot stand idly by and do nothing, because when we say NO MORE and do something we may just save a child so that they can be the future of our country. So the next time you hear, see or know of a homeless people, reach deeply into your pockets and give just some of the money to make their lives a little better.
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