Tiny House Village in Eugene, Oregon

In Eugene, the Whoville tent camp has returned, this time to city-owned land next to a downtown street.

Eugene urban planner Andrew Heben has an alternative idea to tents: tiny houses.

The author of Tent City Urbanism: From Self-Organized Camps to Tiny House Villages (The Village Collaborative, $18) co-founded the nonprofit organization Opportunity Village Eugene, which last year created a community where people live in 30 tiny houses.

There is no electricity or plumbing, but the front doors can be locked for privacy and the modular, simple structures keep the rain, wind and chill away. A tenant can personalize the 80-square-feet space. Many have sleeping lofts over the kitchen/desk area. A few have painted the plywood walls.

Residents share a communal kitchen, bathrooms, showers and gathering space.Š

www.oregonlive.com/hg/index.ssf/2014/11/tiny_houses_for_homeless.html