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1/2 million Americans are homeless! Can Tiny Homes save the day?
Tiny homes could be the key to being mortgage free
When we had to look long and hard at our finances and decide whether we should sell the house to clear the debts one thing stuck in my mind… Half A Million Americans are currently homeless and a further ONE MILLION are struggling to pay the rent!!
Now this is bad when you are solo or just you and your partner but when you’ve got kids, it’s a whole other ball game.
I realize that this statistic is probably less here in Canada but, probably not for long. With a housing price median of $350,000 (that’s over a quarter of a million dollars CAD people!) here on the Island and you can forget trying to buy a house in Vancouver, there is a big push towards Tiny houses and Tiny living.
Check this out. The guy who brought us IKEA is now bringing us Tiny houses / IKEA Style. 
He claims that these Tiny Houses can be put together in one day (Lego style) with no experience and minimal tools, use up less wood as they are custom cut and take up less space on the trucks so more can be carried at once, thus also saving on fossil fuels.
I looked into it and the going rate for one is just under $500 USD (not including delivery).
What we looked at, during our P.E.C (Personal Economic Crisis) was Yurt living. I played around on sites like Pacific Coastal Yurts, with their designer / builder app and essentially, we could have a space large enough for the family for between $15,000 and $25,000. That would have been do-able if we had to sell the house to dig out from the debt but then the BIG QUESTION…Where do you put your new living space? Land ain’t cheap!
Well, seemingly here the government in the Yukon will give a person free land if they make certain promises to farm and help out the community there. Free Land – Yukon.
If that’s too far North for you – what about Alberta? >>8 Canadian Cities where you can still get free land <<
From the Blog Site – I’m perfectly Happy – there is more information on how to attain free (or very nearly free) land in the 21st century.. >>I’m Perfectly Happy<< .
The latest in, for my US Neighbours, is there are currently 15 Cities that will pay you to live there..>>Get your land for nothing and your house for free<< (posted June 2018).
So – given all of the above. Why is our homeless population rising and what, if anything, is anyone doing about it?
Right here in the Comox Valley (God’s Own Back Yard) we have a little Camp Ground (Maple Pool Camp Ground) which allows extremely low income (no income) people to park a camper or RV, pretty much permanently, thus creating a solution to homelessness and affordable housing. I know this place has been an absolute Godsend to people in need here but it’s right on the River and sometimes, it floods. 
The last time this happened, the powers that be here in the Valley decided to try to close it down as a Public Risk.. plus the fact that is wasn’t licensed for residential / long term stays and the land wasn’t properly zoned, etc, etc, etc.
AND – here’s why we didn’t sell up and move to the Yukon for Free…
The people of the Comox Valley didn’t like the idea of closing down this little sanctuary. Maybe they have hearts of gold or maybe they didn’t want “that sort” of person sleeping rough on our streets! I’m going with option #1.
The campaign to allow the campsite to remain and to continue operating was victorious and, instead of focusing on Public risk and lame laws, the people requested help in making the place safer, getting it licensed and changing the zoning. So why didn’t our councilors do that in the first place?
I guess it’s easier to look the other way and say “I’m only doing my job”; “There’re laws for a reason”, “It’s not my problem”.
The situation that our planet faces with over population and lack of affordable housing is EVERYONE’s PROBLEM so don’t turn a blind eye to it.
Next time – It Could Be You.
XO
Anna
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