Tiny Houses for Families in Need

In a world where more and more families are struggling to find affordable housing, one former priest and his family are trying to make a difference. At the moment, former priest Nathan Monk, his wife Tashina, and their three children are living in a rental home in Florida that’s about 365m² (1,200ft²). But the family of five is going to be moving into a tiny home of only 91.5m², or 300 square foot. “But why?”, you may be thinking. “Why move your family of five into a house a quarter the size of the one you live in now, if you don’t need to?” Because Nathan and his family want to raise awareness of family homelessness. They want people to know how easy it would be to house a family of that size in somewhere so small and still have them living in relative comfort. So, with the help of two architects, Nathan designed the three-bedroom house he and his family are hoping to move into. And when the blueprints have been finalised, Nathan is going to be sharing them on the project's website, Tiny House Big Solution, along with DIY videos and ideas, all for free. The ultimate aim is for people and organisations to have access to the plans so that they might build their own tiny homes for families in need as either a transition or full-time home. Nathan has been working on helping the homeless for more than a decade, inspired by his own poverty-stricken childhood after his family lost their home. “A mythical promise had been built up by our parents that once everything was okay and we were out of poverty, we would get to go on an epic vacation to Disney World,” he explained. And although the trip didn’t actually happen, it all culminated in Nathan’s work for homelessness now. And he’s even written a book all about it called “Chasing the Mouse”, of which he hopes the proceeds can go towards taking his plans from paper to reality. After learning more about small house initiatives, Nathan realised that they didn’t really cater to families - a huge gap in the market that people had spoken of but hadn’t actually done anything about. “The thing is, as a society, we can’t continue the way we’re heading. This is not a sustainable model for living, and we are all feeling the effects,” it states on the Monks’ website. “Something in the system is broken, and we are being forced to adapt.” And by moving their family into such a tiny home, Nathan and Tashina are hoping they can prove a viable solution. The children are even on board, excited at the prospect of such an adventure. The family has a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to raise awareness for Nathan’s book and to raise money for the initiative. If you’d like to find out more, get updates, or make a donation, why not check it out? That way, you could directly impact the project and help families of the future have a home they might otherwise have had to struggle without. Image Source: Nathan Monk’s Instagram