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Workshop participants to build tiny house at Jackson Wellsprings Karen Logan of Ashland loads up supplies at Economy Plywood in Medford Wednesday for a tiny-house workshop being held this weekend in Ashland. Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch Friday Nov 11, 2016 at 4:59 PM Nov 11, 2016 at 4:59 PM John Darling for the Mail Tribune Legally, it’s called a shed. It’s only 8-by-8 feet, but you can live in it. You can construct the shell in a few days for $1,500, then insulate and outfit it as you wish. These tiny houses can be planted on the ground or put on trailers. They are heated, with electric units. Tiny houses can shelter homeless people by parking them in church parking lots and other locations and providing a portable restroom, and that’s what’s probably going to happen to the tiny house that’s being built this weekend at a workshop at Jackson Wellsprings along Highway 99 outside Ashland, which you can attend for $30 a day, Saturday and/or Sunday. The cool thing about this tiny house is that it’s already been designed. It has often been used as the basic plan for units at Opportunity Village in Eugene, and its designer, Alex Daniel, will be the teacher, assisted by Karen Logan of Ashland. They’ve given many introductory lectures on the smart shelter at the Ashland library and, as actiing as Angel House Project, are forming a board in Ashland and Medford, where the Medford City Council will consider a Hope Village this month. “This is a system similar to Eugene’s,” says Logan. “They have 10,000 hours doing this and teaching volunteers to build homes. We’re taking applications of volunteers (to build). This will be our first house.” The house won’t be insulated, but the community and churches will be invited to caretake it, insulate it, furnish it with power and try it out in their parking lot, she says. Usually when a person is chosen to live in it, it tends to be a single mom with a child. “Anyone interested in building tiny homes or creating more affordable housing should come to the workshop,” she says, adding that “tiny living” is a big adjustment. One of their classes is entitled, “Are you ready for tiny house living?”  The organization is a nonprofit, and tuition fees will go toward materials. The group soon will build a “luxury model” of the tiny house, on a trailer, for churches to try out, says Logan. Several organizations have already suggested people to live in the unit. “We recommend people who’ve formerly been in the homeless community. Ashland Resource Center has recommended several. There is no lack of people here who would like to be housed,” Logan said. The Angel House Project board forming now includes a retired San Diego police officer with lots of experience working with the homeless community, she says. The template for an Opportunity Village here is based on building transitional housing that won’t be owned by occupants, she says. “It’s up to the people who sponsor the house how they use it and if they allow adopted people to stay longer.”  The group plans to give more talks at the library and has given away many sets of plans for building the houses. The plans and contact information are available by request by emailing [email protected] and online at http://tinyhouseworkshop.eventbrite.com. Logan can be reached at 541-708-3557. — John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected].