Huts for Hope has evolved its mobile hut design after giving away its first shelter one year ago. Each successive hut, created to provide emergency shelter for a homeless person, was built to be lighter and comfier than the last.
On Wednesday, the 14th hut made by the nonprofit — and the eighth given to somebody in Clark County — was gifted to a homeless couple.
Jerad Nichols, founder of the nonprofit Huts for Hope, which is based at his Long Beach home, said the homeless couple had one of the older huts, but it was broken into and began letting in rain, which caused mold. The couple declined an interview.
Since founding the organization, Nichols said, he has received input from the people who have lived in the huts about what would make them better. That’s what led him to a new rickshaw-style design.
The wooden hut features a domed roof made of canvas, a fold-down bed and shelves with storage space. It’s almost a mini house, minus the electricity and plumbing, Nichols said. The hut can be moved by pushing a bar attached to its front.
“You actually have room to move around and store some of your things,” he said.
The older designs had enough space to crawl in and lay down.
Some hut recipients have moved on to more stable housing and have passed their shelters down to other people in need. One person traded the hut for an RV, Nichols said. Huts for Hope plans to continue with the rickshaw-style design and may contribute some huts to the village of tiny houses for the homeless being planned by the Council for the Homeless and a local pastor.
“We’re going to build as many as we possibly can next year,” Nichols said.
