Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while addressing the growing need for affordable housing? Carpentry teacher Garret Tingle, who was recently awarded Teacher of The Year by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, and his students at Newton North High School are currently working to solve both issues. As part of an innovative program, they are building a “tiny home” – a home designed to maximize space efficiency while minimizing maintenance costs and energy consumption.
What inspired you to create this program?
Last year I started asking the question to my students, how is the remodeling industry responding to climate change and sustainable thinking? What we started to do is develop a mindset of sustainable thinking and under that thinking, we started saying, why don’t we build a tiny house – a high performance, sustainably built tiny house? I additionally asked the question, what could be our response to housing insecurity? What I did was, I went out to the Shattuck Hospital over in Jamaica Plain, and saw a treatment center with twenty tiny homes. There, they were taking people off of living on the streets, and literally bringing them to live in tiny homes. The issues of climate change and housing insecurity ultimately became the motivation to build a sustainable tiny house. We weren’t just going to build it a small home. It was going to contribute to alleviate housing insecurity in some capacity and be built in a sustainable manner.
What are the most valuable lessons students learn from working on the tiny home project?
The most valuable lesson students learn from working on the tiny home project is learning how to build while following proper construction codes – this isn’t just about randomly hammering nails, but understanding a structured building process. The kids’ skills, you know, are getting honed and sharpened and ultimately that’s what we teach here. It’s high level carpentry.
What challenges did you face when you first started the program, and how did you overcome them?
Some of the challenges came from the financial aspect of the program. We had to fundraise for it. The school does not contribute to this project as schools just can’t give out twenty-thousand dollars. We had to fundraise and in that respect, Green Newton has been a big supporter by helping to finance what we’ve done. They put together a grant for me, and we were off and running. Additionally, I had a couple of contractors that have a very strong, sustainable building mindset: The Byggmeister Corporation, which is a small remodeling company doing high-end work; the Pat Cook Foundation; Asher Nichols Craftsman; Auburndale Builders; Steve Works Builders; Newton North Green Team–and the Village Bank. These corporations aided the financial aspect of my program as well. Fundraising was tough, but when people understand what we are doing, they recognize it’s a good program to invest in.
What opportunity could tiny homes address in our community? What are the unique benefits of tiny homes for our community?
There are places in the country, Seattle, Washington and Austin, that have literally created tiny house villages. Tiny homes offer housing for folks that need housing, giving a solution to one of the largest issues in our country, affordable housing. My big dream is for the city of Newton to donate a plot of land where we could build four or five tiny homes as a response to the housing insecurity crisis.
Where are you currently in the build process?
The house is just about weather tight, and then we will work on the interior which goes pretty quick. My plan is by the spring, it will be ready to go.
What has been the most fun part of the project for you?
We’re a serious class, but working with kids has to be fun, right. I mean I’m serious about the building and our mission, but we do a lot of joking around – that’s what 16 year old kids do. So the kids are always the best part of it.
Although it’s called the Tiny House Project, the work that Mr. Tingle and his students are doing have the potential for a large impact by building more energy-efficient homes that can also be solutions to the housing shortage.
Devan Kathiresan is a junior at Milton Academy and an intern at Green Newton.
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