Woodbridge HUGS aims to build tiny houses for the homeless

When Annemarie Landry and Terry Twomey met as volunteers last winter with Woodbridge Homes Outreach—a group that helps the homeless living in woods in the area—they realized they shared a vision for building tiny houses to shelter the homeless.

In June, they incorporated as a nonprofit organization, Woodbridge HUGS (Help Us Grow Strong). The group conducts weekly outreach to the homeless, but its goal is to build tiny homes—generally defined as those less than 400 feet —to shelter them.

The group provides meals, shelter and clothing every Sunday to the homeless campsset up in the woods throughout the area. Woodbridge HUGS primarily services the camp behind Bungalow Alehouse on Prince William Parkway. Landry estimates that 30 to 50 homeless people live in the camp. There are 54 homeless camps in Prince William County.

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“It’s very hard to live in the woods,” Landry said. “It’s not like camping on the weekend. Living in the woods, you’re like a soldier in combat; you’re always on this high alert.”

Landry said she was surprised to find that some of the people’s needs revolved around maintaining their jobs.

“Big Mike was starting a job and needed a blue polo shirt and some khaki pants,” she said. “Which is sort of one of the most surprising things I’ve discovered in the short time that I’ve done this — how many of them do work. The problem is most of them don’t make enough through minimum wage to be able to afford a house and transportation, and food and utilities.”

Landry and Twomey’s plan to build tiny houses is based on the Housing First model of providing care to the homeless, used increasingly in cities including Los Angeles, Denver, Philadelphia and the District, with a high rate of keeping people sheltered over the long term.

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Unlike traditional homeless intervention models, there are no prerequisites for candidates to receive housing.

“You don’t have to get clean, you don’t have to get sober; you’re put in a safe place,” Landry said. “Once they have a safe place to lay their head at night, with Housing First, after three to six months you’re not just housing them. They obviously need some intensive case management, whether it’s alcohol abuse or drug abuse or mental illness; there’s usually some reason why they’re living in the woods.”

Housing First has an 85 to 90 percent success rate, Landry said, because it provides shelter before other services.

“Instead of making them do all these things and then get them a house, you give them a house and case management, and in three to six months they’re the ones who are asking to get clean and to get sober, and to get job training and résumé-writing skills,” she said.

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Woodbridge HUGS is planning a fundraiser Saturday at Paradiso Italian Restaurant in Alexandria. Landry hopes to build a prototype for her tiny house to judge how well it could weather the winter. The cost for each structure is usually $7,500.

The group hopes to work with the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to start the process of getting approval for the tiny houses. Landry envisions a tiny house community for every district in the county, with every community made up of five to seven tiny houses around a central structure.

“We really are in the beginning stages,” Landry said. “I have a building engineer that’s a volunteer. We have a plan, but once we get it into the county, I’m sure [the tiny house] will be tweaked many times till it’s a feasible structure.”

Ultimately, she said, the group hopes to help each homeless person get a home and reach his or her potential.

“We want everyone to be the best version of themselves they can be,” she said.

Lanyi is a freelance writer.

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