BY: QUENTIN STUCKEY
A group of dedicated and altruistic teenagers has managed to build tiny, mobile homes for homeless citizens in Seattle, Washington. The teens were led by the non-profit organization, Sawhorse Revolution, with additional help from several construction, architecture, and engineering aids that provided the tools and skills necessary for these tiny mobile homes to be built.
In 2015, Sawhorse Revolution had the idea for high school students to both design and build homes for a homeless encampment downtown. They called their project ‘The Impossible City.’ Completely funded with donations and after recruiting hundreds of interested participants, the students and Sawhorse Revolution successfully built seven tiny homes.
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The seven tiny homes were built specifically for Nickelsville, a network community raising awareness to the needs of the homeless. Nickelsville consists of homeless encampments on sanctioned land in Seattle; they are transitional communities where their homeless residents tend to move around every three to eighteen months.
Each design was unique, based on the students’ ideas after learning about the lives of the homeless citizens that they would eventually be building homes for. The homes that the teens built had such positive feedback, that now Sawhorse Revolution is expanding upon The Impossible City.
Their next projects include: building two tiny homes that act as one for a larger homeless family that needs more space, a security office designed and built by their all-women’s program, and more tiny houses that give families the sense of home and safety. To complete these goals, Sawhorse Revolution is raising money, $20,000 to be exact. Any extra donations? Every $5,000 extra equals another tiny home.
“We don’t have any illusions about The Impossible City solving homelessness,” said Sawhorse Revolution founders, Sarah Smith and McKenna Asakawa, in their video. “But what we can do is show our students and folks watching what’s possible when you come together with your community and create something amazing with your own two hands.”
