By Rocket Belden, Staff Writer
All across America, housing prices grow more and more expensive, causing difficulties for unhoused and low income populations to find affordable housing. Pellissippi State Community College seeks to find a solution by bringing the community together to build a tiny home out of a shipping container outside of the Hardin Valley Campus.
Pellissippi State interior design professors Diane Riley and Julie Shubzda proposed the tiny home project in 2023, gaining a $10,000 grant from the instructional development committee to pursue the project. According to committee member Karen Wright, the instructional development committee looks for innovative ideas for teaching to engage students and increase retention.
The tiny home project is intended to give students across multiple disciplines real experience; so far, the project has included students from both interior design and welding pathways in designing and creating the home.
Associate professor Adam Streich led a class of welding students in cutting and attaching windows and doors to the shipping container, allowing his students to apply classroom knowledge to a real world situation, preparing them for leaving school and entering the job market. The support from the community for the project itself has been immense, with the windows, doors and many other materials being donated by members of the community.
Professors Riley and Shubzda have seen the impacts of the housing crisis on their students over the years, having taught students who were unhoused. Professor Riley spoke to the inspiration of the project, commenting that “it’s a heartbreaking thing” to see students struggling with their housing. She spoke to the emotional aspect of the project, noting that students want to help, but don’t have a way of doing so. The tiny home project is a tangible way for students, and the Pellissippi community at large, to help.
Of their $10,000 budget, the shipping container itself was $3,000. Professors Riley and Shubzda were worried they’d have to gain materials from scrap yards to complete the project within the budget, but all materials other than the container itself have been donated from the community. With the help of the material donations, Pellissippi will be able to make the container home as nice as possible before auctioning it to raise money for more projects. One of the goals of the project is to put together a model for other community colleges to start their own tiny home projects, hoping to inspire the creation of a number of container homes to support those who need more affordable housing.
Pellissippi State has found a tangible way for students to support their community through the recent housing crisis. The tiny home project has given students a phenomenal opportunity to practice their skills, but has also given teachers and students alike hope for their unhoused peers.
