Our first two homes

Reflections from Andrew Lunetta, Executive Director of A Tiny Home for Good

As we celebrate the ten year anniversary of our first two homes, we'd like to share a story each month that highlights what we've built, what we've learned, and how we've grown as an organization. This second installment takes us back to 2016.

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An Uphill Battle

Most non-profits start with a dollar and a dream, and A Tiny Home for Good was no different. After years of working at the local men's shelter, I knew that tiny homes could be a solution to the lack of dignified affordable housing for the poorest of the poor. So, I pitched the idea to several homeless service providers. While they all agreed it was a good idea, no one was willing to take on the risk and expense of developing, owning, and managing property. 

Blissfully unaware of the challenges ahead and buoyed by the strongest of convictions that tiny homes could be an answerto homelessness, I pulled together our first board of directors. We had an architect, a doctor, a common councilor and a consultant who all believed in my vision and lent their skills and their hands to our early efforts. We hired a lawyer and filed for our 501(c)(3) status.

Early board on site prepping for the foundation at Rose Ave

Thanks to the support of another nonprofit that believed in our vision, we raised our first $50,000 quickly. We had the city and county on board to donate a vacant lot, and we were excited to get started. But, there was one caveat. We had to get neighborhood approval before we could break ground.

NIMYBism

A Tiny Home for Good was founded in 2014. The reason we're celebrating the ten year anniversary of our organization this year is because that entire first year and part of the second was spent knocking on doors and having them slammed in our faces, in going to community meetings that turned riotous. 

Despite our best efforts to assuage concerns, neighbors were adamantly against having the (formerly) unhoused living on their block. We never were able to cement community approval and, reluctantly, the city and county rescinded their offer to donate land. 

So, here we were almost two years in. No land. No neighborhood approval. And just an avalanche of rejection and bad feelings. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about walking away. 

But, throughout these two years, I was still working at the men's shelter. And I was still seeing the same guys pass through every night. After working there for eight years, many of these guys had become my friends. I couldn't accept that there was no safe, affordable, respectable space for them to call their own.

Digging Deep

So, despite limited funds, we took the next step and we bought a vacant city lot on a quiet one-way street. We no longer needed neighborhood approval, and we got to work.

You might be tempted to think that from there on out it was smooth sailing, but that would be foolish. Did you know that it costs over $150,000 to have a home built, even a tiny home, by a professional contractor? And that’s on the low end. As a new, unproven non-profit that kind of funding was out of our league. And I had never built a house before. So, what did we do?

We made a lot of mistakes. 

But passion, vision, and dedication have a way of bringing out the best in people. Our motley crew of volunteers garnered some attention. A couple of subcontractors took the lead when they realized we didn’t know what we were doing. We messed things up, learned lessons, and reworked what we needed to the next day. There were a lot of starts and stops, but after the challenges of the previous two years, I was so thrilled to be moving forward and I fell in love with the building process. 

There’s no question, we’re much better builders now, but those homes on Rose Ave are still standing, and still occupied by our tenants today. They’ll always have a special place in my heart because they were the first. They gave us something real to point to, proof that this kind of housing could work, as we pushed to develop our next units. And it taught me an important lesson; nothing happens overnight. The last ten years have been a daily commitment of taking the next step, even and especially when we don’t quite have all the answers.