Pallet is making $7,500 prefab tiny homes that can be setup in 1 hour to help solve the homelessness crisis — see inside a unit at a Washington village

Bigger isn't always better, according to the rising interest in tiny homes.

Tiny home sales skyrocketed during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some consumers wanted to downsize their primary residences. Others wanted a separate office during the rise in remote work. A few people were even using tiny homes as a private backyard gym.

Source: Insider

The public's love for this minimalist lifestyle was so high, a 330-square-foot home in Santa Cruz, California sold for over $1 million in 2021.

Source: Insider

 

Despite what you may see on social media, tiny homes aren't just reserved for the wealthy, influencers, people with large backyards, or hospitality companies.

Source: Insider

Now, they're being used to house those who need it the most: people without homes.

Over the last several years, tiny home "villages" that shelter people until they can find long-term housing have been popping up across the US with the help of government funding and nonprofits.

And Washington-based Pallet is the brain and arm power behind the mass production of these little prefabricated homes.

Pallet's units are designed to shelter people who are unhoused because of natural disasters and personal struggles.

The Washington-based company currently prefabricates a 64-square-foot and 100-square-foot tiny home, bathroom, and office in its large factory space in Everett, Washington.

When completed, the units are flat-packed and shipped to the village's site. After an hour of assembly, Pallet's tiny homes are ready to greet their first occupants.

The smallest $7,500 "Pallet 64" is prevalent at many of these tiny home villages, which are often operated and paid for by both nonprofits and governments.

Think of it as a small college dorm room that can sleep up to two people.

Inside, there are nine-foot ceilings, windows, plenty of built-in storage units …

… outlets, and a desk that can convert into another bed.

There are also necessities like lights, a locking door, and insulated walls.

And this particular tiny home at Everett Gospel Mission's village also has the optional heating and cooling system that can handle even the chilliest East Coast winters.

If you're already housed, you might not think much about your locking front door.

But for people who are transitioning from life on the streets to living in a secure shelter, these simple locks provide a crucial but previously nonexistent form of security.

"Having a locking door can sometimes become the difference between accepting help getting off the street and making a step towards permanent supportive housing," Rowan Vansleve, CFO of Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, told Insider in 2021.

Source: Insider

Nonprofit Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission has also been using Pallet's shelters to create colorful multimillion-dollar tiny home villages throughout Los Angeles, shown below.

The Pallet-based villages also provide occupants with meals, bathrooms, showers, and social services like substance abuse treatment.

This holistic care, combined with a private — albeit tiny — home, then gives the previously unsheltered residents a chance to move toward permanent and stable housing solutions.

Some tiny home villages like the one at Everett Gospel Mission are temporary.

But the tiny homes can last over 10 years. And once a site's contract has expired, the homes can be forklifted onto a flatbed truck or disassembled in under an hour to be moved to a new site.

Of course, Pallet isn't the only solution to our ongoing housing and homelessness crisis.

The traditional congregate shelter system is currently more prevalent in the US.

And they're still a necessity: The homelessness crisis is so dire, all possible solutions are needed.

But these structures can't be built overnight or assembled in an hour like Pallet's can.

And according to Amy King, Pallet's CEO, a majority of people who are unhoused don't feel "comfortable" in these congregate shelters because of COVID-19, trauma responses, and how triggering living in shared spaces can be.

But by building personal tiny homes, Pallet says it's creating a more "dignified" option for people who may otherwise reject help in a congregate setting.

And so far, the company's model of decency and safe personal shelters has been a success in cities across the US.

There are about 100 Pallet shelters housing over 2,000 people in states like Texas, Colorado, Hawaii, and New Jersey.

Josh Kerns, Pallet's public relations manager, told Insider in an email that occupancy is "generally pretty close to 100% (anecdotally)."

And many of the villages, including those in Los Angeles and Everett, Washington, now have a waitlist.

"Cities trying out this new model [are] getting much higher acceptance rates amongst individuals that are traditionally service adverse and don't want help [in a congregate setting]," King told Insider.

"If you offer them an individual shelter solution in a broader community where services are provided, they'll accept that," she said.