Brick-by-brick, tiny home project tackles housing crisis

How do you address a problem as large and complex as Cayman’s housing crisis?

Brick-by-brick and house-by-house, volunteers are seeking to build a safe home for those who need it most.

Since the Compass profiled Cayman charity Acts of Random Kindness’ first tiny home project, the non-profit has quickly and quietly moved on to the next job.

There’s no easy solution for the hundreds of families living on the margins of Cayman’s society in unfit and unsafe housing, says ARK’s Tara Nielsen.

But the organisation seeks to make a life-changing difference for people in dire need.

Marva Bodden has been living in a converted shipping container since her wood home in George Town was burnt beyond repair following an electrical fire in 2020.

Bodden, now in her 70s, had lived her whole life in the simple house on Diaz Lane that her father built with the money he made as a shoemaker in the 1940s.

Now ARK has partnered with 1503 Property Group to build her a new ‘tiny home’ on the site. Planning permission has been granted for the 536-square-foot home, based on a template design that the charity hopes to replicate all over the island.

It is simple but safe and provides everything the elderly landowner has lacked, including a proper water and electricity connection and a comfortable, functioning bathroom and kitchen.

It will be the second such project for ARK, which galvanises community donors and brings contractors and volunteers together through its ‘Cayman Casa’ programme. Typically it has focused on housing repairs, but more recently, with the aid of sponsors, it has attempted more ambitious building projects.

Where families own land but can’t afford to rebuild dilapidated properties or the home is beyond repair, Nielsen believes raising money for a small house is the best way to help.

“A lot of people are land rich but cash poor. They have inherited properties but they have no funds to make them habitable.”

It costs around $80,000 to build a tiny home in Cayman, with much of the labour and materials donated or offered to ARK at a cut-price.

For Bodden, there was no hope of salvaging the home. But ARK is optimistic they can build her a new property – mirroring the design of the tiny home it constructed for Stephen and Janice Trusty in Frank Sound last year.

Critical to that effort is the support of 1503 Property Group, which signed on as the title sponsor after reading about the Frank Sound project.

Jill Davison, who co-owns the business with Ruth Gustafsson, said Marva Bodden’s home – a small shipping container powered by a generator – was just a stone’s throw away from the offices of the real estate firm.

As a business that makes its living from the sale of property, she said they wanted to give back by helping fund a home for someone living in the same community.

“We sell so many beautiful homes and there is a disparity with what we see and how some people are living in Cayman,” she said.

“To take a trip every now and then and see that it is not all beautiful homes is definitely meaningful for us and we want to make sure we can help for the long term.”

The real estate firm is the anchor sponsor of the development and has made a long-term commitment to help ARK on future projects. Agents are donating a portion of their commission to the cause and bosses are seeking to inspire others to become involved.

Art for ARK

Artists, donors and clients of the firm gathered at the elegant Seascape property on Seven Mile Beach on Thursday, 27 Oct. for an event to help raise money for the project.

Artwork, including two chairs painted live on the night, and sculptures and paintings from some of Cayman’s best-known artists, was on sale with 50% of the proceeds going to the project.

The 1503 Property Group donated $20,000 to get the fundraising efforts off the ground and hopes to raise at least a further $15,000 from the event.

Anyone can support the effort by sponsoring a brick in the new home.

Speaking to the group gathered at the fundraiser, Davison paid tribute to ARK for its work on housing.

“A lot of people talk about affordable housing in Cayman and how we can help and what we can do but nobody walks the walk like ARK.”

She said the firm wanted to help support the construction of at least one home each year.

Nielsen said ARK’s aim was to connect donors with the people who needed it most. She said the charity’s projects were effective because they created a personal connection between the white-collar world and the often-hidden issues in Cayman.

“We want you to come and meet Miss Marva and give her a hug,” she told the crowd at Seascape.

“She would be overwhelmed by the support.”

Anyone can buy a brick for the new tiny home with a $200 donation.

Once the home is built – with an expected timeline of around six months depending on funding – ARK will move on to the next project.

Nielsen said the charity will not be able to solve Cayman’s housing crisis. But with the support of donors she believes the community can make a huge difference for deserving families, one house at a time.

“We hope to build many of these homes across the island,” she added.

Compass series: Cayman’s housing crisis