by Emily Morrison
For the past two years, Woodland has partnered with Settled, an organization working to build tiny homes for people experiencing long-term homelessness. These tiny homes will then be used to form small communities called Sacred Settlements.
From the beginning, Settled has been innovative and resourceful in their approach, and recently their project took on a creative twist.
Following recent unrest in the Twin Cities, Settled sent out a request to take the plywood used to protect businesses and repurpose it into material for future tiny homes. Many business owners responded with a resounding yes. This support is critical right now. For one, the pandemic leaves the homeless population more vulnerable, as they have no place to ‘shelter-in-place.’ In addition, as our state grapples with the legacy of systemic racism, we must address the housing crisis for people of color who have historically been pushed out of housing opportunities and concentrated in poor neighborhoods.
Settled is helping change this. As co-founder Gabrielle Clowdus says, “Sacred Settlements allow for people to not only have a safe place to be, but a place where they are wanted, and they want to be!”
If you’d like to see a video about the plywood project you can watch the news coverage here. In addition, here’s an article covering Settled’s next steps. About the media coverage, Clowdus says, “Our greatest response from the media pieces by far has been from people experiencing homelessness asking how they can be part of what we’re doing!”
God has a reputation for bringing beauty from ashes, and if followers of Jesus are called to beat swords into plowshares, why not transform the remnants of unrest into places for rest?
If you are interested in making a donation of plywood or other building materials call Settled at 512-788-0344. You can learn more about them on their website here.
