Category Archives: Humanitarian

WorldHaus Prefab

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Michael Janzen

The folks at faircompanies tipped me off to an interview they recently had with Daniel Gross, the entrepreneur behind a company called WorldHaus. WorldHaus, an Idealab project, has developed a low cost prefab building system intended to provide families in … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged Daniel Gross, earthbag, faircompanies, owen geiger, prefab, Video, worldhaus | 21 Comments

Tiny Pallet House Eco-Village

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Michael Janzen

Architect Arthur Dyson is working with students at Fresno State University to build a tiny pallet house eco-village for the homeless. The plan is to use mostly reclaimed building materials like pallets for the structures, cardboard for walls, and aluminum … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged Arthur Dyson, eco-village, Fresno State University, tiny pallet house | 7 Comments

Shelter 2.0

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Michael Janzen

Shelter 2.0 is an incredible prefab building system designed to provide shelter for those who need a home. The parts are fabricated from standard building materials and the shelter itself can be easily assembled by inexperienced builders. The estimated cost … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged homeless, prefab, shelter, shelter 2.0, tiny house | 6 Comments

World Hands Project – Pallet Houses in Mexico

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Michael Janzen

While the World Hands Project is currently going through internal re-organization I was happy to find that during past workshops they’ve helped people down in Mexico build some simple homes from shipping pallets. Instead of using some kind of manufactured insulation … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged cob, Humanitarian, mexico, pallet house, pallets, shipping pallets, sustainable architecture, Workshops, world hands project | 5 Comments

Dignity Village – A Success Story

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Michael Janzen

One of my regular readers, Malcolm, reminded me tonight about a tiny house village in Oregon that was established by a group of homeless folks through successful acts of civil disobedience. The city of Portland now accepts the existence of … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged community, Dignity Village, eco-village, ecovillage, homeless, village | 7 Comments

Tiny House Eden

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Michael Janzen

It looks like a tiny house village for the homeless isn’t such a crazy idea. Here in Sacramento a collaboration between several homeless advocacy groups had come together to make it happen. The group includes Loaves & Fishes, Safe Ground Sacramento, Francis House, Sacramento … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged california, community, eden, Francis House, homeless, loaves & fishes, sacramento, Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee, Safe Ground Sacramento, shed, shelter, tuff shed, Volunteers of America | 4 Comments

Immediate Action Needed to Help the Homeless

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Michael Janzen

This idea has been brewing in my head for a while. The other morning my wife, who worked with homeless women and children for years before we were married, sent me a link to an article entitled, City Attempts to … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged camping, emergency shelter, homeless shelter, homelessness, loaves & fishes, sacramento, shelter, tent city | 13 Comments

The Mad Housers – A Bold Solution for the Homeless

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Michael Janzen

Here’s a group of people taking on the homeless problem head on. They call themselves The Mad Housers and they are an Atlanta based non-profit organization dedicated to showing people how to put a roof over their own heads. These … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged homeless, homeless camp, homeless shelter, homelessness, shack, shed, shelter, The Mad Housers | 3 Comments

Tiny House Homeless Shelters to Weather The Economic Hurricane

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Michael Janzen

On Wednesday this week Oprah ran a story about the recession and the increasing number of people finding themselves with nothing but debt and homelessness. Part of the story was about the tent cities popping up all across America. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged canada, emily carr, homeless, homeless shelter, oprah, tiny house, vancouver | 42 Comments

Rebuilding Lakeshore Mississippi

Posted on January 19, 2009 by Michael Janzen

Hurricane Katrina seems long past to most of us but for the people in Lakeshore, Mississippi the aftermath of Katrina is still an everyday challenge. I ran across the story of Lakeshore Baptist Church the other day because they began … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanitarian | Tagged lakeshore, lakeshore mississippi, mississippi, rebuild lakeshore, tiny house | Leave a comment