Hey kids! I know it’s been FOREVER since I posted. No excuses, I’m just lazy. Anyway, I found this over at BikePortland.org; and I thought I’d weigh in.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about building homes for the homeless. All these fancy architecture students are coming up with these fabulous plans for these fabulous tiny houses and after I read about Brian’s bike motorhome, it got me thinking that there are 3 fundamental problems with these architecture students’ plans:
1) many of them are big enough that you need either a peice of property to set them on or a huge truck to pull them or a lot of money to buy the plans and build them (or buy them prebuilt).
2) nobody is really giving these plans away for free (except Michael Janzen) or really getting off their patuties (myself included) to help build these homes.
3) homeless people don’t have the money to spend on purchasing these plans or the homes premade or to build these homes. Period.
These homes are beautiful and well designed, however, they don’t really suit the needs of the homeless. They need something cheap. Something that is easy to take with them by hand or bike; something light and fairly small like Michael’s teardrop bike trailer or Brian’s bike motorhomes.
I also think the fastest way to help the homeless is to support them. Take Brian for example. He currently has a pull behind bike trailer that weighs 80lbs for sale. It’s definately not as pretty as one of the fabulous tiny houses but it is small, light, weatherproof and can be tugged along easily. So in that regard, it serves the needs of the homeless.
So since it’s almost December and all, I’m going to whip out the Christmas card and say, even if you don’t want this tiny house for yourself, why not purchase it and then donate it to someone who really needs it?
Brian probably needs the money more than those fancy architecture students do. He actually lives on the streets. He is not neccessarily homeless because of his bike motorhome, however, just because you have a place to sleep doesn’t mean that you are rich. Brian still needs food for his mouth and clothes for his back. And probably money for repairs on his home.
So to wrap up my time on my soap box, here is one of the comments by the editor of BikePortland.org:
Elly Blue (Editor)
November 28th, 2009 16:22
Hey all,
I spent a while talking with Brian today. He definitely needs to find a buyer for this rig, and is entertaining offers. In the meantime, he could really use smaller donations as well. If you know where he’s at, drop by and chat with him for a while. If you don’t, feel free to drop it by our office, 833 SE Main #102.
Besides money, his other urgent short-term need is a covered place where he can fix his own house-bike — the rear axle needs to be replaced and he isn’t looking forward to working on it out in the rain and cold for another winter. Any leads on a big, covered, preferably indoor area where he could work?
In the longer term, the guy needs investors, and a team.
And here also are some pictures of Brian’s bike motorhome that he has for sale.
This model is 8′ x 4′ and weighs only 80 pounds. It has a spacious interior that fits a sleeping adult (or two?), has many interior shelves, and is priced to sell (he’s asking $1,950 but says he’ll take offers). He can modify the hitch custom for any bicycle. -quote and photos courtesy of Kent Griswold of the Tiny House Blog
