Woman turns school buses into houses to help homeless

Julie Akins, an independent journalist living in Oregon, United States, is dedicated to giving homeless people opportunities by offering them a decent space to live. Over the last few months, she has been transforming school buses into mobile homes and, together with her team, has already managed to convert a 73-metre space into a home for families in need.

In this post, the awesome.club shares with you an inspiring story, showing that a new chance in life can arise in the midst of the most unexpected situations and places.

Julie had the idea of ​​turning buses into houses after taking an intense trip in August 2016. She was doing research for the book she was writing at the time when she met a woman who lived with her whole family inside one of these buses. The conditions they were in were dramatic, as there was no electricity or heating available. In addition, her husband was sick, unable to work to help support everyone. And as the woman could not financially support the children, she ended up losing custody of the children, who were sent to temporary homes. Faced with this, Julie decided to do what she could to give that family an opportunity to get together again and start living in a cozy space.

With that, 18 months ago, Julie founded the charity “Vehicles for Change”. The organization restores retired school buses, either by purchasing them or receiving them in the form of donations made by educational institutions, and transforms them into fully functional mobile homes, named Skoolies🇧🇷 Each residence has a kitchen, hot shower, bunk beds and heating system. At Skoolies they can even be taken from one place to another, as long as this is strictly necessary.

At Skoolies are sustainable as they run on solar energy. Thus, Julie intends to collaborate with the Environment and help Mother Nature, while transforming the lives of homeless people. “The main objective of our organization is to give dignity, stability, joy and learning opportunities”, she explains.

The buses turned into residences are parked in an exclusive place for mobile homes and “Vehicles for change” itself is responsible for paying, for six months, the cost for the service. And the families that live in the Skoolies have the chance to buy their own mobile home at very affordable prices.

According to the Vehicles for Change website, building a house from a school bus costs around $18,000 (about R$73,000). Julie’s goal is to deliver five houses a year, and that’s why the organization collects donations on its website. The money is destined exclusively for the renovation of buses and the purchase of necessary items, such as ovens, showers, heaters, beds, floors, solar energy panels and furniture.

Do you know of other initiatives dedicated to improving the reality of homeless people? Collaborate with any of them? Leave a comment with your impressions on the subject!