Seattle’s adoption of tiny house villages as a crisis response to homelessness several years ago is now paying unexpected dividends as an ideal form of shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mandate from public health officials is clear: Stay home, stay separate, stay clean. But you can’t stay home without a home and you can’t shelter in place without shelter. A basic condition of being homeless is the necessity of frequenting and inhabiting public places: You must look for food, bathrooms, warmth and ad hoc shelter. This often requires interacting with others. ...