Inpro
By this time next year, Occupy Madison hopes to have four new residents — completing the village of nine tiny houses on the city’s near east side. As part of its development plan with the city, a full-scale kitchen and more bathrooms need to be added to the village’s communal building before any more residents can move in. A more comfortable meeting room for villagers and volunteers is also planned. The renovations are estimated to cost $100,000.
That effort will be given a major boost thanks to a donation from Inpro, a family-owned commercial architecture firm based in Muskego. On Nov. 22, Inpro will deliver a luxury tiny house to the village. But Occupy Madison won’t be keeping the gift.
“We don’t need more homes. We need money,” says Bruce Wallbaum, Occupy Madison treasurer.
Wallbaum says several tiny houses are already near completion for new residents. The luxury tiny house donated by Inpro, valued at $40,000, will instead be auctioned off at Occupy Madison’s annual plant sale this spring.
Amanda Goetsch, sustainability manager at Inpro, says the luxury tiny house was built by Utopian Villas of Oak Creek, using Inpro’s products. Inpro commissioned the tiny home for its display at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo held in Los Angeles this year.
“The tiny home was brought out to California for the trade show [in early November]. It was a big hit,” says Goetsch. “We’re really happy to help Occupy Madison finish their expansion because it means they’ll be able to house four more people who need a home.”
“It very likely could be the single largest donation, [Occupy Madison] has ever received,” says Wallbaum. “We are focused on completing the village as we have [planned] now and becoming debt-free. The goal is to be completely sustainable as soon as possible.”
Occupy purchased land on the corner of East Johnson and Third Street in May 2014. Five residents currently call the Occupy Madison village home. Each had to put in 500 hours of sweat equity before becoming a steward of his or her own tiny house. The residents pay the bills by selling plants that are grown on-site and goods handcrafted at the village’s workshop. Rolling pins, bowls, serving platters, sushi tables, cribbage boards, cutting boards, coasters in the shape of Wisconsin, bat houses, birdhouses, little free libraries and art are all available for purchase at Occupy Madison’s retail store. The nonprofit also recently won a $15,000 grant from the Canadian food company Nature’s Path to build a greenhouse. The village also hopes to start selling honey once its urban beehives start producing.
“Our micro-enterprises are currently covering our monthly expenses like the mortgage, etc.,” says Wallbaum. “So all fundraising — including auctioning off the tiny house [donated by] Inpro — goes to capital improvement to the property.”
Gene Cox was living out of his van before moving into his tiny house in the village. He’s excited about the improvement slated for the communal building, especially the new kitchen. He’s cautiously optimistic about the prospect of adding new residents to the tight-knit community.
“We expect there might be some interpersonal issues,” says Cox. “So we’re working out methods of conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques for when the village is completely full.”
