My new hobby, and how to finance it
Quote: AutomaticMonkeyQuote: KevinAAQuote: EvenBob
64 ft, that's 8 ft by 8 ft, is that a joke? Do you have any idea how small that is? It's about the size of the old fashioned small prison cells. The average new prison cell is 70 to 80 square feet, and they're locked up prisoners and they get better space than these homeless people do. 64 square feet I'm claustrophobic just thinking about it. I'm betting they don't have their own air conditioning so it's going to be sweltering in there, a tiny space like that. I guarantee that within a month it will be the epicenter for drug use and drug sales in that area. 95% of those people are drug addicts there's nothing better than centralized location to get your drugs. In 6 months the city will be saying what were we thinking, this place is nothing but drugs and crime. Mark my words. I remember when they started building the 'projects' around big cities for poor people to live in. Took a very short time for it to become racked with crime and drugs and gangs.
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Unlike prison, they're not stuck there all the time. The idea is to have a place to sleep with a roof.
I have lived in a small space before to save money. There's nothing wrong with that.
I agree that keeping out the drugs is going to be the number one job. If they don't enforce the rules, it is doomed.
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8x8 is a typical size for a camp tent and one can live in those indefinitely.
But I would have a bigger concern with this arrangement: I urge Bill or anyone else who has influence in this project to insist on a rule where all of these units must be opened and inspected by an authority every day!
If that does not happen, I assure you:
Someone will be held in there against their will, invariably a woman or minor.
Pet animals will be neglected in there.
Someone will have to experience the horror of handling the decomposing deceased.
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I am not involved in this, except as an interested observer who made a small donation towards the next site. I'd seen them building the site and thought it was going to be a weird bed and breakfast.
I would imagine all of your concerns have been addressed in the rules. Although these are the first minivillages in Tucson, they're modeled after successful parks elsewhere.
The mini-homes are small, but they are designed primarily for sleeping and storing belongings in a secure location. They have a type of mini mini-split. It doesn't take much to cool an 8x8 room.
A Las Vegas company is working on a 10x12 foldable shelter designed for the homeless that can be mass-produced.
When your previous sleeping quarters was sharing a bus stop shelter with a dozen people, a shed is paradise.
As for your last concern, thats what pot luck dinners are for.
Quote: avianrandySo the residents are not allowed to have a pet such as ,say a cat?
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I don't know. I've only met one homeless person with a cat. I've seen dogs of all sizes and ages, but only one cat. I'm not familiar with the rules, but Arizona is generally considered pet-friendly.
Is there a common area with toilets? With a shower facility?
I assume that washing machines are too much to provide.
And these units are cooled in the summer? And heated in the winter? With air circulating through the shed? if so, it sounds expensive.
Whomever owns the property that adjoins this site is going to experience a reduction in their property values.
In checking through the mini-home villages in other states, it does seem like they eventually start charging a monthly fee for living there. And some of them have a maximum stay of, say, two years. One can imagine that these fees and maximum stay rules eventually were adopted for good reasons.
Quote: KevinAAQuote: EvenBob
64 ft, that's 8 ft by 8 ft, is that a joke? Do you have any idea how small that is? It's about the size of the old fashioned small prison cells. The average new prison cell is 70 to 80 square feet, and they're locked up prisoners and they get better space than these homeless people do. 64 square feet I'm claustrophobic just thinking about it. I'm betting they don't have their own air conditioning so it's going to be sweltering in there, a tiny space like that. I guarantee that within a month it will be the epicenter for drug use and drug sales in that area. 95% of those people are drug addicts there's nothing better than centralized location to get your drugs. In 6 months the city will be saying what were we thinking, this place is nothing but drugs and crime. Mark my words. I remember when they started building the 'projects' around big cities for poor people to live in. Took a very short time for it to become racked with crime and drugs and gangs.
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Unlike prison, they're not stuck there all the time. The idea is to have a place to sleep with a roof.
I have lived in a small space before to save money. There's nothing wrong with that.
I agree that keeping out the drugs is going to be the number one job. If they don't enforce the rules, it is doomed.
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If they strictly enforce keeping out the drugs no homeless people will stay there. It'll be 95% empty.
Quote: gordonm888My experience with homeless is that they harbor a deep defiance about obeying rules. At the most, some of them will provide lip service towards the rules until no one is looking.
Is there a common area with toilets? With a shower facility?
I assume that washing machines are too much to provide.
And these units are cooled in the summer? And heated in the winter? With air circulating through the shed? if so, it sounds expensive.
Whomever owns the property that adjoins this site is going to experience a reduction in their property values.
In checking through the mini-home villages in other states, it does seem like they eventually start charging a monthly fee for living there. And some of them have a maximum stay of, say, two years. One can imagine that these fees and maximum stay rules eventually were adopted for good reasons.
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These were described as 8 by 8 ft shacks, and you don't air condition or heat a shack, it would cost a veritable fortune. And if they were to have window air conditioners the crooked homeless drug addicts, which is most of them, would just steal them and sell them. Same thing for heaters. Drug addicts will steal anything and I mean anything if they think they can get a little money for more drugs. They steal from each other constantly. This place is a disaster before it even opens because it doesn't have a single hope of being successful.
Quote: gordonm888My experience with homeless is that they harbor a deep defiance about obeying rules. At the most, some of them will provide lip service towards the rules until no one is looking.
Is there a common area with toilets? With a shower facility?
I assume that washing machines are too much to provide.
And these units are cooled in the summer? And heated in the winter? With air circulating through the shed? if so, it sounds expensive.
Whomever owns the property that adjoins this site is going to experience a reduction in their property values.
In checking through the mini-home villages in other states, it does seem like they eventually start charging a monthly fee for living there. And some of them have a maximum stay of, say, two years. One can imagine that these fees and maximum stay rules eventually were adopted for good reasons.
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Two lavatory trailers that say on the side that they are self-cleaning. Each unit is climate-controlled. Again, it doesn't take much to cool or heat a 64-square-foot room. Currently, the showers are basic, utilizing solar-heated camping showers. It's the start of a new community, if it works out. If not, the sheds are hauled away on a few flatbeds., and Tucson has another empty lot.
This may not be suitable for everyone if the rules are enforced, but it could be an opportunity for the right person. One of the programs is a 12-week baking course followed by an apprenticeship.
The only mini-village I'm familiar with is in Vegas, but that was set up as an artist colony, where you got your first year free and then paid a portion of the rent.
I believe I saw that the village is a small gated community with 24/7 security.
They're somewhat heavy so no one without transportation will be stealing them, and they don't have much resale value being they wear out, there is no way to test them on the street, and the kind of people who own property like that aren't going to be buying stolen ones to save some pennies. A large property usually has a storage room with a bunch of spares and the big savings is you don't need an electrician or HVAC guy to replace them, just a guy with a screwdriver and who knows how to use it.
Arizona doesn't have much rain or cold so it would seem that shelter would be less essential than in Minnesota or coastal Washington or Buffalo.
Well, it may be a worthwhile experiment. I imagine the officials who run this mini-village are going to discover some truths about the homeless that many of us already know.
Sheltering a person and allowing them to earn their keep is a first step towards restoring their dignity.
Quote: DieterFrom what I've seen of the shelters, the cooling system is more permanently attached than a window A/C unit. While there may still be scrap value in the heat exchangers and tubing, it is less readily portable.
I believe I saw that the village is a small gated community with 24/7 security.
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There is a manager and an electronic gate, but I'm unsure about 24-hour security, beyond the presence of cameras.
Quote: billryanQuote: DieterFrom what I've seen of the shelters, the cooling system is more permanently attached than a window A/C unit. While there may still be scrap value in the heat exchangers and tubing, it is less readily portable.
I believe I saw that the village is a small gated community with 24/7 security.
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There is a manager and an electronic gate, but I'm unsure about 24-hour security, beyond the presence of cameras.
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Fair enough. The brief write-up I saw just said "24 hour security", without mention of how such is provided.
I can only presume that a few cameras would be a deterrent against ripping a 100+ pound HVAC unit out of the wall and trying to lump it to a scrapper.
Quote: DieterQuote: billryanQuote: DieterFrom what I've seen of the shelters, the cooling system is more permanently attached than a window A/C unit. While there may still be scrap value in the heat exchangers and tubing, it is less readily portable.
I believe I saw that the village is a small gated community with 24/7 security.
link to original post
There is a manager and an electronic gate, but I'm unsure about 24-hour security, beyond the presence of cameras.
link to original post
Fair enough. The brief write-up I saw just said "24 hour security", without mention of how such is provided.
I can only presume that a few cameras would be a deterrent against ripping a 100+ pound HVAC unit out of the wall and trying to lump it to a scrapper.
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Never mind about most of the stuff I said. I did some research and the people they let live here are not going to be your average homeless drug addicts. They're going to be extremely vetted and interviewed and only men under the age of 25 or over the age of 50 will be admitted, don't ask me why. If you have drugs or weapons on you you will not be allowed on the premises because it looks like they will search you. They have a whole bunch of job teaching programs so these are going to be way above average homeless people, whoever is doing this is not tackling the real problem at all. The real problem is the drug addicted homeless which is most of them. So they're going to cherry pick who they live here just to make themselves look good. A security fence, 24-hour security, high tech video surveillance, this is more like a middle level prison than a homeless Village.
Quote: avianrandySo the residents are not allowed to have a pet such as ,say a cat?
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Cats and many breeds of dogs are allowed, with a weight limit.
