A tiny home community is helping people get back on their feet.
A temporary housing program has been met with resistance from residents, but the women and children it serves have taken full advantage of the helping hand, NBC 7 San Diego reported.
After officials scrapped a proposal to build 150 tiny homes in Spring Valley because of public opposition, a 70-home project in Lemon Grove has stalled as well. But a six-home unit at Meridian Baptist Church proves the efficacy of the program, which was awarded $10 million in state funding last year.
"The city of El Cajon was one of the first in San Diego County to approve a tiny homes program as a means of temporary housing," the station wrote. "The pilot program started in 2020."
In December, city council members made the program permanent.
Carol Ortiz has been living in one of the homes since September; the average stay is 115 days. She's working two part-time jobs as she looks to start a career in social services to help the unhoused.
"I would like to get on my feet and give somebody else this cabin," she told NBC 7. "... I found myself in this situation, and I want to help others."
Amikas, an organization dedicated to ensuring women and children in San Diego have safe places to live, built and operates the homes. It uses local suppliers and natural wood to create precut and predrilled kits that require minimal skilled labor for assembly.
The homes are designed to help prevent sleep loss, which impairs decision-making, increases anxiety, and suppresses the immune system, among other negative health effects.
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Definitely 🙁 They can even be taken down and reassembled. At the church, there are plans to build four more.
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Of the people who have lived in the tiny homes, 78% have moved into permanent housing; the shelter-wide figure for the San Diego Housing Commission is 17%, NBC 7 reported.
"Even though you feel that there's no hope, there is," Ortiz said.
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