Tiny homes, built largely with philanthropic support, offer more patch than solution to homelessness

In response to a nationwide crisis that has left more than 650,000 people without housing, 100 tiny home villages for the homeless have opened in the United States over the past five years. That growth, from just 34 in 2019 to 123 today, represents a quadrupling, according to Yetimoni Kpeebi, a researcher at Missouri State University. At least 43% of these villages are privately funded through donations from philanthropists, businesses, and corporations. As ambitious as these efforts may be, they serve only a fraction of the estimated homeless population. Skeptics worry the construction of tiny homes doesn’t remedy the bigger issue, which is the widespread lack of affordable housing.