Finding ways to fulfill need for affordable housing

Ever wonder what happened to all the "Occupy" people?

You remember, the "99 percent" who pitched tents and made themselves a nuisance to protest "social and economic inequality"?

Some of them have moved on to a new project to help shelter the homeless, but, never fear, they're still annoying some people in the process.

It's part of the "tiny house" movement that provides houses as small as 99 square feet in size, often built on small trailers.

Tiny houses in one project run by former Occupy organizers, have insulation and a propane heater, but no plumbing or electricity, although solar panels may be added later. They're clustered around common assets such as showers, bathrooms, a chicken coop and even beehives.

A typical tiny house costs about $5,000, has a double bed with overhead storage, a small table and a small room with compostable toilet.

Many of the tiny houses are built by ministries to serve homeless people, who are required to stay drug-free and pay a small amount of rent each month.

Not everyone living in tiny houses is destitute, of course, some affluent people are choosing to scale down in a big way by moving into a couple of hundred square feet per person or less.

We doubt a "tiny house" effort would get far in McCook for a number of reasons, low homeless numbers and community reaction among them.

That doesn't mean there isn't a demand for low-cost housing, however, which is why we were encouraged to see someone had purchased the old St. Catherine's apartments with plans for reopening them as housing condominiums and apartments.

We wouldn't assume they will be low-cost apartments as they were before the former hospital-turned-apartment building closed, but we hope there are some economical choices.

There is a real need for low-cost housing for someone working in fast food, for instance, or college students who may not be able to, or choose not to use college housing.

The $1,000 or so a month a minimum-wage employee can expect to earn doesn't leave much room for rent, let alone utilities, food, clothing -- and government-mandated health insurance.

Let's do what we can to encourage the new St. Catherine's owners and others to provide the housing our community so desperately needs.