How to become a member/resident of Occupy Madison
Are you currently experiencing unsheltered homelessness? Are you interested in living in a tiny house village? If you are – here’s what you need to do!
Become a member. Show up to two general membership meetings and express interest in becoming a member. General membership meetings are the first Sunday of the month and we have been hold special GMMs to make the process go faster, the meetings are at 6pm at 1901 Aberg Ave. Upcoming meetings are all at 6pm at 1901 Aberg Ave.
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- November 2nd
- November 16th
- December 7th
- December 21st
Make sure to have an email address you can provide to the organization so you get notificaitons.
Show up to two orientations. We hold two orientation meetings two times a month. Orientations are at 201 S. Stoughton Rd. at 11am (1st orientation)and 1pm (2nd orientation)
Earn sweat equity hours. You need 160 hours to be able to move into a house. When you earn 500 hours you are eligible to become a steward and get a wooden house instead of a conestoga hut.
Get voted in to a village.
If you have questions, feel free to reach out to us at admin@occupymadisoninc.com
Occupy Plant Sale Saturday!
Occupy Madison Tiny House Villages (three of them!) for people who have experienced houselessness is hosting our 10th annual Plant Sale on Saturday May 3rd from 10am – 4pm.
The event will feature music by our friends and awesome supporters Sunshine Daydrink noon – 3 . . . or so . . .
Along with tiny house village tours, food and drinks as well as plants, plants, plants and more plants!
You can pre-order your plants for pick up or come and choose the plants you desire. Plant are available on our website.
Plants will be for sale through June. If you miss the plant sale, you can order on line for pick or stop by the store weekly during store hours.
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- Tuesday 6pm – 8pm
- Thursday 6pm – 8pm
- Saturday 10am – 2pm
- Sunday 10am – 2pm.
This is a fundraiser! Funds raised from this sale help keep the villages paying their bills throughout the year. The plant sale raises enough money each year to keep the 304 N Third St funded for 1/3 of the year . . . and more with your purchases!
If you aren’t into plants, check out the other things on our website for sale in our store or you can donate!
New items in the Store!
If its been a while since you stopped by the Occupy Madison store, its definitely worth stopping by and checking things out!
We have new houseplants
Soaps
Crafts
and succulents
As well as old and new wood products made in our woodshop!
The store, located at 304 N Third Street, Madison WI is open weekly:
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- Tuesday 6 pm – 8 pm
- Thursday 6 pm-8 pm
- Saturday 10 am – 2 pm
- Sunday 10 am – 2 pm
Fundraising, fundraising, fundraising!
Our best guesses at what we still need to raise to finish the village at 201 S Stoughton Rd is about $100,000. Increasing construction costs and the costs of materials is, at this point quite expectedly, throwing us off our budget!
So, we need you, more than ever, to help with whatever you can spare. This community has been so generous to us during the construction of our first and 2nd villages, they are both paid off and mortgage free! Village three is our biggest project yet, and we got assistance from the County with purchasing the land, financing and pre-development work, as well as $500,000 for construction. Unfortunately, the budget for construction is likely about $750,000 – until it goes up again!
Please consider donating if you can. You can donate here or by clicking on the donate button on the right of the screen at the top (if on computer) or by scrolling down on your phone and clicking on the button.
Or, if you’d like, checks can be sent to 304 N Third Street, Madison WI 53704.
Or, stop by our plant sale Saturday, May 3rd at 304 N Third Street to enjoy music, food, tiny house village tours, good company and of course, plants! If you can’t make the plant sale, order on-line or stop by Tuesday or Thursday evenings 6pm – 8pm or Saturday or Sunday 10am – 2pm.
Now accepting volunteers!
We aren’t quite ready to start building houses, but we get closer and closer every day! We know that is what most of our volunteers want to do and we’ll let you know when we are ready!
Meanwhile, we still need volunteers for a variety of other things including:
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- Helping with store shifts (Tuesday and Thursday 6pm – 8pm or Saturday and Sunday 10am – 2pm at 304 N. Third St.)
- Helping with hanging drywall (Most Monday – Thursday 4pm – 8pm at 201 S. Stoughton Rd.)
- Help with fundraising!!!
You can see the calendar for any of these events. Or, to volunteer you can sign up by clicking on the button on the right hand part of your screen (on a computer) or at the bottom (if on a phone)
or this button to have us contact you!
Or just email us at occupymadisoninc@gmail.com and let us know what you are interested in!
Update from 201 S. Stoughton Rd – Village 3
Last summer we finished the garage and got approval for the zoning at 201 S Stoughton Rd for our 3rd village. We also sold the property to the county for the next 10 years and worked on final sign off to get our building permit.
We also worked on setting up our shop in the basement where we will be building the components of the tiny houses which will be assembled in this garage.
And we moved the conestoga huts that Bachmann Construction had allowed us to store in their yard! Thank you Bachmann!
This spring we got our building permit and we are busy working on the interior of the building. It looks a lot different than when we started.
The photo above is before we started putting in the walls . . .
Our current project is dry walling! If you are interested in helping out, we are there most nights Monday – Thursday 4pm – 8pm hanging drywall.
Taping and mudding is coming next!
Update from 1901 Aberg Ave. – Village 2
Spring is here and the village is in bloom!
Village residents have been busy helping with our third village, getting ready to accept new residents and helping with the store and our upcoming plant sale.
Last fall we nearly completed the last items on our list for the redevelopment of the village. Well, except for the new wooden houses, which we will begin building in the fall when it gets too cold for outside renovations at the third village.
We spent time finishing up the landscaping, planting trees and cleaning up around the village.
We continue to enjoy the savings in electricity with the new solar in place!
Residents are excited to finish renovations on Village 3 this summer so we can start building the wooden tiny houses for the fall. These houses will replace the conestoga huts and give them more living space! We will then use the conestoga huts for the residents at the 3rd village until we build the larger houses.