Oakland Official: Try Tiny Homes for Student Housing Crisis

Arriving with a suitcase, a backpack and a few bags of groceries, Oakland City Councilmember Abel Guillen appeared more ready for a weekend getaway than a press conference — and that’s exactly the point.

Guillen was preparing to spend two nights in a “tiny home” erected by Laney College carpentry students in the parking lot of Oakland’s West Side Missionary Baptist Church — a 137 square foot structure with two beds, a kitchen and a full bathroom — and a surprising amount of closet space for its size.

“If I’m asking students to live here, then I should try it out first, to make sure that it in fact is comfortable, and people can live here comfortably,” Guillen told reporters as he hung towels and filled an ice cube tray in the unit’s bite-sized kitchen.

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