I build 20ft tiny homes for homeless people (and they only cost £12,000)

Workman Elvis Summers spends his free time building 20ft tiny homes for homeless people – and the compact creations manage to squeeze in a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.

A deeply empathetic person who feels other people’s emotions as if they were his own, he takes pride in knowing that he’s giving those experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles a bed for the night.

‘To feel the relief, joy and hope that people feel is ultra rewarding. It fills my batteries right up,’ the 47-year-old Californian shares.

‘It’s an amazing experience and I wish everyone could get on board.’ What started as a simple mission to help a 61-year-old woman named Smokie has now become The Tiny House Project.

At the time, she was ‘sleeping in the dirt’ near Elvis’s flat – and so he wanted to help her out of her situation.

‘I did it because it’s the right thing to do. It’s what we should do,’ Elvis’s mission statement on the project’s website reads.

(Elvis believes it’s ‘the right thing to do’ (Picture: Jam Press/@thetinyhouseproject)

(Elvis now estimates he’s built ‘hundreds’ (Picture: Jam Press/@thetinyhouseproject)

‘We have more than enough resources in the world to solve the hunger and homeless crisis. The problem is that people just don’t care or don’t care enough.’

Smokie was well-loved in their local neighbourhood, but Elvis notes that despite everybody liking her, not enough was done to help her out.

The mini house he built her – the first one he ever constructed – cost just $500 (£400).

He placed it in front of his apartment and knew that after witnessing her reaction to it, this couldn’t be the only person he helped in his life. And so, The Tiny House Project was born.

‘She slept for a day-and-a-half straight because for the first time, she actually felt safe,’ Elvis notes.

Though he hasn’t kept exact track of everything he’s built since then, he estimates it to be in the ‘hundreds.’ Mostly, people ‘break down and cry’ after witnessing the fruits of Elvis’s kindness – something he describes as a highly ‘emotional experience.’

(The cost is between £5,000 and £12,000 (Picture: Jam Press/@thetinyhouseproject)

(The first lady he helped was 61-year-old Smokie (Picture: Jam Press/@thetinyhouseproject)

Ref: I build 20ft tiny homes for homeless people (and they only cost £12,000)

Photo Credit- JamPress/@thetinyhouseproject