The homelessness epidemic across the Pacific Northwest is now going to be addressed in a unique humane way by a recent joint venture of two Seattle-born non-profit organizations. Through ‘The BLOCK Project’, tiny sustainable homes are being built in the backyards of the charitable volunteers, to be delivered to the homeless people of the neighborhood.

The BLOCK Project

Architect and founder of the BLOCK, Rex Hohlbein joined Facing Homelessness, another non-profit organization to initiate the collaborative project. The latter organization has the responsibility of finding lands in the household backyards, on which Hohlbein’s BLOCK will build small, low-emission housing. The name of the company and the project comes from Hohlbein’s pioneering 125 sq. ft. modular design of the tiny sustainable houses. Hailing their initiative, thousands of Seattle residents have already offered their house backyards for the project. The government also stepped in to make the entire process as legally convenient as possible.

The Reason

Seattle has been facing a dual problem of having expensive real estate on one hand, and the country’s 3rd largest homeless community on the other. In such context, Hohlbein realized that willingness of kindly neighbors could provide a much better and quicker solution than a long waiting for state allowances or big-budgeted government programs. The visionary idea of the architect is now getting proved by continuous manufacturing of thousands of tiny backyard homes across Seattle.

The Vision

The long-term goal of the project is to replicate the globally changing definition of lodging brought about by AirBnB. According to Hohlbein, in his childhood, it was ludicrous to think about hosting complete strangers in any regular household just in exchange for little money, especially with the risk factors of a night-time staying. But the Airbnb has made the concept as casual as it can get. Through The BLOCK Project, Hohlbein aims to replicate the same kind of “cultural shift” with futuristic sustainable housing, starting from the grass-root level of local neighborhoods.

In light of everything going on in the world right now, it can be easy to assume that most people are simply staying at home and wallowing in the idea of what life could have been like if things were different. In fact, many high school students are feeling this at the moment, as millions across the globe are having to forego their graduation ceremony. One principal didn’t want his students to miss out, though, so he decided to do something extraordinary to make up for it.

Canceling The Event

With the world in lockdown, high school students across the globe have been asked to stay at home during the last few months of their schooling – but that’s not where the struggles end. Because of social distancing rules, graduations have also been canceled, and while most students understand that this is the right decision, there’s no doubt about the fact that it has come as a tough blow to many who have been looking forward to that day for much of their lives.

Doing Something Wonderful

Because he didn’t want his own students to feel as though their hard work hadn’t been acknowledged, principal Scott Rudes from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas, decided to do something wonderful. As someone who had seen how hard his students had studied, and as the father of a senior himself, he knew how heartbreaking it would be for his students to not graduate. So, he decided to drive over 1,500 miles over the course of 10 days to hand every single one of his students their diploma. The students were elated and were so thankful for someone like that in their lives.

It seems as though there really are some good people out there, and people who want to find some joy in what could be considered a joyless time.