Tiny houses, big dreams: CET plans to donate houses to those without

Steve Del Real said he watched his students at the Center for Employment Training (CET) build miniature, almost fully working homes for years as a part of the hands-on learning experience provided in Del Real’s curriculum for the Green Building Construction Skills class. The students would build the homes up, only to have the projects torn down at the end of each class cycle.

That was until Del Real, with the help of other CET leaders and community members, decided to make a big change in April 2017. Rather than deconstructing the homes built by students, the CET will begin donating them to those in need.

click to enlarge Tiny houses, big dreams: CET plans to donate houses to those without
PHOTO BY KASEY BUBNASH
NOT SUCH A TINY TASK: Center for Employment Training students are working on a model tiny home which is on track to be completed by August, according to instructor Steve Del Real.

“It’s just what I had been doing, but now we’re going to help people,” Del Real said. “I think it will benefit both sides.”

The new program, Tiny Houses Big Dreams, is still in its earliest stages, he said, but the program will be an effort to battle Santa Maria’s growing issue of homelessness and lack of affordable housing. The program aims to specifically donate tiny homes to veterans, the homeless, youth aging out of foster care, and survivors of human trafficking.

The houses could also go to low-income senior citizens and single parents in need. And Del Real said the homes would be entirely self-contained, meaning completely furnished with electricity, solar panels, a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom—they just need to be attached to a water and sewer system. He said the homes are always built to code as part of the class curriculum, and each tiny home is 240 square feet.

However, Del Real said the CET has struggled to tie down any permanent partnerships with community organizations and is still looking for land, furnishings, and cash donations. Each tiny home costs about $20,000 to complete, Del Real said, even with the free labor provided by students.

He said many organizations have expressed interest in the project but want to see a tiny home finished before making any long-term commitments. The class is currently working on a model home that he said will be finished by August and unveiled at the CET’s 40th anniversary celebration in January 2018.

click to enlarge Tiny houses, big dreams: CET plans to donate houses to those without
PHOTO BY KASEY BUBNASH
ATTENTION TO DETAIL: CET instructor Steve Del Real (left) mentors students like David Gonzalez (right) in his Green Building Construction Skills class, teaching them how to work equipment like the table saw to build tiny homes and more.

Students David Gonzalez and Jose Ayala said that while they’ve always enjoyed attending the CET, the opportunity to help people through Tiny Houses Big Dreams is a huge added bonus to the already thorough Green Building Construction Skills class.

“It’s a great idea,” Gonzalez said. “It motivates us to give it our all because we know the house will go to someone.”

The students, however, all agreed the project would be difficult to complete successfully without help from the community. Eva Marie Macias, director of the CET, said she has big plans for the Tiny Houses Big Dreams project, whether community organizations can keep up or not.

Macias said she hopes Santa Maria will one day have an entire tiny-home community, where all in need will have a place to call their own.

But finding host land for the tiny homes has been difficult, Macias said, because when people think of a low-income community, they think of a “ghetto,” even though they hope recipients would be drug and crime free.

To solve this issue, Macias said she plans to partner with local churches, where the homes could be placed on their campuses to get people in the area comfortable with the project’s mission. If that doesn’t work, Macias said the CET would sell the homes to farmers and ranchers who need living space for their workers.

And if even those ideas don’t pan out, the homes could go to millennials in need of affordable homes, she said.

In the future, Macias said she hopes the CET will build eight to 10 houses a year, including tiny homes that will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. For now, Macias is searching for donors and partners within the community. Many community organizations, Macias said, seem to think the CET is moving along with the project too quickly.

“Yes, we’re only in the beginning stages,” Macias said, “but I don’t care. We’re going to build houses.”

Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash can be reached at [email protected].

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