Tiny Homes a Big Example

In such polarizing times, it was refreshing to read an article that highlights the positive impact transitional housing may have on the Santa Barbara community.

Due to homelessness being such a complex issue, it is hard for many to have hope that housing projects, such as La Posada, will work. Additionally, it does not help when the mainstream media sheds light on the bad or negative side of homelessness when there are plenty of opportunities to highlight all the work being done to address it or find a solution. However, as a future social worker, I have learned that offering unhoused individuals with some form of stable housing is better than them sleeping on the streets or in their cars.

In my coursework, I have also learned that the only true answer for homelessness is not only housing, but affordable housing specifically. Unfortunately, with the current state of our housing crisis, it seems that this is not going to be possible. Therefore, I think that tiny home villages or even refurbished shipping containers would be a more cost-effective way to address our housing crisis.

Although I am a resident of Ventura County, I believe that having transitional homes such as La Posada would be a huge asset to helping unhoused folks in our own community. Upon looking more into the La Posada site, I found that they offer case management services, mental health care, addiction services, and more. With the Supreme Court giving cities more power to address homelessness in ways they see fit, this may be the right time for more projects resembling La Posada to be developed.

While our county’s social service agencies are also tasked with providing these services to homeless individuals, I think these transitional housing sites are the perfect way to create collaboration between our county’s agencies and these private companies. Social workers from the county can step in to fill in the gaps as well as help find more permanent solutions.

I have seen firsthand how beneficial projects like this can be. I recently studied abroad in Germany and visited a similar style project, except the homes were refurbished shipping containers. It was on a much smaller scale as the site could only house 10 women, but in speaking to the project coordinator, it was evident that even having 10 less unhoused individuals on the streets significantly increased their quality of life.

In contrast to La Posada, this project’s way of practicing case management included helping the women identify what they want out of life rather than helping them set goals and take steps to “get out” of homelessness. I thought that this was an interesting approach as they focus more on meeting these women where they are in comparison to forcing them to take steps they may not be ready to take.

With that being said, I have hope that La Posada and any future transitional housing projects can reach the same impact as the one I witnessed while studying abroad.