Dear Headway reader,
How do we learn to get better at responding to disasters?
Headway’s most recent article presents us with a powerful case study to watch for progress on this question, and links a few ideas and lessons that have come up repeatedly in our coverage.
The story by Issie Lapowsky begins with the devastating wildfires that hit Hawaii in the late summer of 2023. The fires leveled Lahaina, an oceanside town in West Maui, and killed 102 people. A state already in the throes of one of the nation’s worst housing crises was plunged into further distress.
But, as Issie reports, Hawaii’s response to the wildfires may become a model for how states can push forward in the aftermath of a disaster. Efforts were already underway in the state to develop tiny-home villages as a response to growing homelessness. In the wake of the fires, Hawaii’s leaders looked to those efforts to help not only survivors, but long-term inhabitants of the land.
Community design goes beyond tiny homes
Tiny-home developments have become a go-to answer to housing shortfalls, for reasons that may be obvious: They offer people privacy, independence and access to nature that can be scarce in congregate shelters. And they create housing for many people without the complex, multiyear planning and development processes required for a new apartment building.
But tiny-home developments vary widely in execution, from simple rows of boxy, evenly spaced units to village-like neighborhoods with scenic looping paths and distinctive house designs. The immediate priority is often getting people into basic housing as quickly as possible, but inhabitants of tiny homes value thoughtful community design.
At Ka La‘i Ola, Hawaii’s development for wildfire survivors, the state and its partners dedicated resources to ensuring residents could bond. Many experts we spoke to cited this community factor as critical to helping people bounce back after a ruinous event.
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The post What Hawaii’s Tiny Homes Reveal About the Housing Crisis appeared first on New York Times.
