Palm Beach County officials are moving forward with a plan to reduce homelessness by introducing tiny house rentals.
In addition to a place to sleep at night, these small houses would provide people with a bathroom, shower and kitchen. And in light of Florida’s new law banning people from sleeping overnight in public spaces like parks, bus stops, beaches and sidewalks, this could provide a tangible solution, county officials say.
“My job is to make sure we have a workable solution to cure homelessness that doesn’t cost taxpayers even more money,” said Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Sachs, who has championed the tiny house idea.
Palm Beach County would be the latest local government in South Florida to explore the idea of offering that type of housing. Both Broward and Miami-Dade counties similarly explored the idea of putting up some tiny houses this year.
In a letter, Sachs discussed the County Commission’s decision to adopt the policy, saying that building tiny houses, even with electricity and plumbing, costs “significantly less” than using temporary shelters.
And yet, Sachs says the county is working with South Florida members of Congress, such as U.S. Reps. Brian Mast, Lois Frankel and Jared Moskowitz, to maintain grants to support construction of the cottages.
“What my primary interest is as a county commissioner and as a steward of taxpayer dollars is that we don’t spend more money on the homeless. We have spent a lot of money helping the homeless, but we have not been able to cure it,” she said.
Bringing tiny houses to Palm Beach County
Anyone can go to Amazon at any time and buy a complete, turnkey home, some with multiple bedrooms and floors, for between $15,000 and $20,000. Palm Beach County officials could very well go that route.
Sachs said she hasn’t decided exactly what methods the county will choose to move forward, but she is considering several, from buying homes from Amazon to creating 3D printed homes to working with developers who specialize in small houses.
“I’m collecting these (options) to primarily see if they match our building codes in Miami? These cannot be RVs or mobile homes, they must be absolutely safe during the worst of hurricanes and floods,” Sachs said. They also need to be cost-effective and portable, she said.
Finding areas to build is another challenge in a fast-growing county where land is becoming increasingly scarce. Some neighbors may also oppose housing homeless people near their homes.
Sachs wants county officials to tackle the plan by identifying “distressed properties” as potential parcels to build on, such as an abandoned dry cleaning factory.
“I have my office working to find lots for sale that are industrial commercial areas,” Sachs said. “They call them distressed properties. So they are relatively cheap. And the lots that seem to work best are the ones where you don’t have to tear anything down and clean the ground.”
Housing first
The tiny houses emerge from a broader model called Housing First, a homeless outreach approach that prioritizes providing people experiencing homelessness with permanent housing, ending their homelessness and serving as a platform from which they can achieve personal goals. to pursue and improve their quality of life. life,” according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
This model differs from others in that there are no barriers to entry in receiving housing; instead, having a bed under a roof is seen as the “foundation for life improvement” and then everything else follows – for example, addressing behavioral, health or addiction issues.
As the cost of living has risen, Stanford Purnell, the director of Social and Emotional Wellness at the Achievement Centers in Delray Beach, said he has seen homelessness worsen, especially because people who couch potatoes or sleep in cars are generally not included. . .
A 2024 count, which determines how many people are homeless in one day, found that more than 2,000 people were without homes in Palm Beach County. According to the province’s community services, this is an increase of almost 15% from the 2023 count.
Achievement Centers has several programs for low-income children and their parents. Purnell said he believes the tiny houses will be “very helpful” in bringing them into a permanent situation.
“There has just been a significant increase in housing costs. And I think unfortunately we haven’t seen that same trend in the wages that families are earning,” he said.
A new state law
The tiny house plan was spurred in large part by the enactment of state law banning homeless people in Florida from sleeping in public spaces.
Purnell worries that people who may be on the brink of homelessness but do not qualify for shelter may have no choice but to find an alternative solution, such as sleeping in their car, but that will no longer be allowed .
“Now they can’t actually settle anywhere anymore. I feel like a lot of families are going to end up in this place,” he said.
Sachs didn’t have a set timeline for when the county could be dotted with these cottages, but the hope is that they will be on display sometime next year.
“The government works slowly. I am an impatient person,” she said, adding: “This is a problem that we have to face. … We will do it with dignity, and we will do it without raising taxes. We will do it because it works, and we are one community.”
