PVF Founder Bill Somerville recently had the opportunity to see tiny houses, each of which is not much bigger than a single parking space. These tiny houses represent a sincere effort by the San Bruno Catholic Worker Program to find solutions for the homeless population in the North County.

The Catholic Worker Program has built two tiny house prototypes that each offer about 110-150 square feet of living space – enough to contain a toilet, shower, stovetop, refrigerator, and bed. Each house costs $20,000 to $30,000, depending on size. One unit is being hosted in a church parking lot, utilizing the church sewer and watering the plants with the gray water. The tiny houses are on wheels and are considered trailers.

In addition to these tiny house prototypes, the San Bruno Catholic Worker Program has beds for nine people; they were also offered use of an attached building of the nearby church to serve breakfast to 50 people daily.

We will continue to follow efforts to pilot tiny houses to address housing as San Mateo County residents struggle with displacement from their homes.