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Our View: Tiny house hurdles Friday Dec 16, 2016 at 12:01 AM Ashland is lagging a bit behind Medford when it comes to tiny houses to shelter the homeless. As a Medford group discovered, building the 80-square-foot structures is the easy part. Finding a place to put them is more difficult. The Angel House Project, a local nonprofit, has built one unit on the Jackson Wellsprings property. The group's goal is 50 units, either scattered around town or grouped together, similar to Hope Village in Medford or Opportunity Village in Eugene. It sounds simple enough: Collect donations, assemble volunteers and build the bare-bones, plywood-and-two-by-four structures, and provide them to people who need housing. An organizer of the Ashland project says it appeals to volunteers because they can build units without waiting for government to act. But placing those units where they can be used will require the city's involvement. City code allows tiny houses on residential lots, but only with foundations, water and power. That may be an option for people with the wherewithal to get a small loan, and it's an intriguing response to the overall housing shortage in Ashland. But the Wellsprings model unit has no foundation, no water and no electricity. That's why a village of several units, with communal cooking, laundry and shower facilities, will be needed, similar to the Medford and Eugene projects. Finding a location acceptable to neighbors isn't automatic, as Medford organizers discovered. Angel House organizers will need to build community — and government — support. We are confident Ashland will step up to the challenge.