Floor Plans And Community Plan

Using the C. Felix Harvey Award, Dr. Wilson and her team conducted a formative evaluation to gain stakeholder feedback on how to design the tiny homes for people living with mental illness. The evaluation included four focus groups with people living with mental illness as well as with service providers. The evaluation also included eight overnight stays with people living with mental illness.

Many participants noted that the model tiny home (326ft²) provided key improvements over current living situations. The results of our evaluation included recommendations for how to tailor the design of the tiny home to meet the needs of people living with SMI. Results identified six common recommendations by consumers and service providers for tailoring the design of the tiny homes and the village to meet the needs of people living with mental illness. The recommendations included:

Maximize natural light and outdoor spaces

Design flexible living spaces

Ensure accessibility

Ensure privacy

Build a community

Maximize connectivity

Designs informed by the study can be found below:

Details about this study can be found here https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731520961448