Tiny homes, big dreams: How some activists are reimagining shelter for the homeless

Tucked inside a residential neighborhood in Madison, Wis., and surrounded by a wooden fence and greenery, are nine little houses. With multicolored siding and roofs, they look like people-sized birdhouses. And they fit right in.

So does Gene Cox, 48. He hasn’t been homeless in more than seven years. That’s the point of this little development.

“This is the longest time I’ve stayed in one place,” said Cox, nursing coffee and a cigarette outside his tiny home after working second shift as a benefits administrator. “I’m very nomadic. I’ve moved around Wisconsin a lot over the last 22 years.”