Occupy Madison – Tiny House Communities for Unhoused Folks
Changing the world, one tiny idea at a time
If its been a while since you stopped by the Occupy Madison store, its definitely worth stopping by and checking things out!
We have new houseplants
Soaps
Crafts
and succulents
As well as old and new wood products made in our woodshop!
The store, located at 304 N Third Street, Madison WI is open weekly:
Our best guesses at what we still need to raise to finish the village at 201 S Stoughton Rd is about $100,000. Increasing construction costs and the costs of materials is, at this point quite expectedly, throwing us off our budget!
So, we need you, more than ever, to help with whatever you can spare. This community has been so generous to us during the construction of our first and 2nd villages, they are both paid off and mortgage free! Village three is our biggest project yet, and we got assistance from the County with purchasing the land, financing and pre-development work, as well as $500,000 for construction. Unfortunately, the budget for construction is likely about $750,000 – until it goes up again!
Please consider donating if you can. You can donate here or by clicking on the donate button on the right of the screen at the top (if on computer) or by scrolling down on your phone and clicking on the button.
Or, if you’d like, checks can be sent to 304 N Third Street, Madison WI 53704.
Or, stop by our plant sale Saturday, May 3rd at 304 N Third Street to enjoy music, food, tiny house village tours, good company and of course, plants! If you can’t make the plant sale, order on-line or stop by Tuesday or Thursday evenings 6pm – 8pm or Saturday or Sunday 10am – 2pm.
We aren’t quite ready to start building houses, but we get closer and closer every day! We know that is what most of our volunteers want to do and we’ll let you know when we are ready!
Meanwhile, we still need volunteers for a variety of other things including:
You can see the calendar for any of these events. Or, to volunteer you can sign up by clicking on the button on the right hand part of your screen (on a computer) or at the bottom (if on a phone)
or this button to have us contact you!
Or just email us at occupymadisoninc@gmail.com and let us know what you are interested in!
Spring is here and the village is in bloom!
Village residents have been busy helping with our third village, getting ready to accept new residents and helping with the store and our upcoming plant sale.
Last fall we nearly completed the last items on our list for the redevelopment of the village. Well, except for the new wooden houses, which we will begin building in the fall when it gets too cold for outside renovations at the third village.
We spent time finishing up the landscaping, planting trees and cleaning up around the village.
We continue to enjoy the savings in electricity with the new solar in place!
Residents are excited to finish renovations on Village 3 this summer so we can start building the wooden tiny houses for the fall. These houses will replace the conestoga huts and give them more living space! We will then use the conestoga huts for the residents at the 3rd village until we build the larger houses.
For the past few months, the 304 Village has been busy!
On Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 – 8 there are shop shifts where residents can come and make items for the store.
These are also the store hours so residents and volunteers have been busy training residents from Village 2 (1901 Aberg Ave) to learn how to work in the store.
You can stop by the store Tuesday and Thursday 6pm – 8pm or Saturday’s and Sunday’s 10 – 2 and we should be open!
And of course, we have also been BUSY BUSY BUSY planting, transplanting, watering and tending to our plants for our upcoming plant sale!
Please stop by our plant Sale on Saturday, May 3rd 10am-4pm for food, music, plants, tiny house tours and more! And if you miss the plant sale, for the next month or so, you can stop by during store hours and purchase plants for your flower or vegetable garden!
Can you believe it has been 10 years?
Join us to celebrate and raise funds for our third village!
Sunday, November 3rd
At each of the villages you can take a tour, meet the residents, purchase items made by our residents and enjoy a scavenger hunt of sorts!
To donate:
To volunteer:
Leave your information here!
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway has proposed using federal spending for the needs of the houseless in Madison and specifically Occupy Madison. The mayor’s blog post can be found here.
The part of the post that impacts the organization:
Homelessness Support – $8,650,000. Funding supports a variety of strategies to support persons experiencing homelessness in Madison such a permanent men’s shelter and additional tiny houses, including an Occupy Madison Solar Project that will reduce housing costs.
We have been talking about having a solar array for years, and funding has always been a major obstacle. Our proposal is to have a solar array on the rooves of the main buildings at both villages and panels on every tiny house. This will not only cut operational costs so funds can be directed towards getting people into houses and a healing community, but we will also be doing our part to contribute to a green infrastructure.
We are currently working on finishing Phase 2 of OM Village, adding another shower, laundry facilities, a kitchen, and a community room to the existing building. After this is complete, we will be able to move four more people into the village and focus on building 22 tiny houses to replace the conestoga huts at the village on Aberg Avenue. Simultaneously, we are looking at more properties in Madison to put more tiny houses to get the unhoused into housing.
Link for how to get a tiny house here. How to volunteer and donate are on this site in the menu above.
Your man-cave or she-shed need a few new items? Fan of Dale Klee (old car photos) or Ted Crow (sports caricatures)? Packer’s fan? Need a boatload of holiday decorations? Music fan? Need a Wiggie’s memento? Or an old parking meter? You just never know what you might find in our silent auction.
The auction will be on line 4/20 – 5/14 at midnight, just click here to see all the goodies. You can pick up your winnings starting 5/15. All proceeds will go to help with the ongoing costs (water, electricity, toilet paper – the necessities!) of our two villages.
If the silent auction is not your thing, you can donate through the donate button on this page or watch for our spring plant sale coming up May 8th!
