Nearly two years after a smattering of tiny homes popped up in the Bay Area as a peculiar new way of housing homeless people, the technique is exploding from one end of the region to the other.
Nearly 1,000 tiny homes or their close cousins — stackable modular housing units, typically with less than 200 square feet of living space — are being planned in San Francisco, San Jose, Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland and Santa Rosa.
Planners say that’s just the beginning. “We’re very excited about micro-homes,” said Lavonna Martin, director of Contra Costa County’s homeless programs. “They could be a big help. They have a lot of promise, and our county is happy to be on the cutting edge of this one. We’re ready.”
One of the most ambitious proposals for tiny homes is in Berkeley, where the nonprofit Youth Spirit Artworks wants to build a 25-unit village for homeless youths. It would be the first of its kind in the nation, and the nonprofit’s director, Sally Hindman, is raising money from local religious congregations.
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