Santa Rosa contractor steps up in a big way building tiny houses for fire victims

For a while after the fires took their harrowing toll, Cardinal Newman High alum (Class of ‘05) Charlie McEvoy did what he suspects many of us were doing: “sitting around feeling hopeless.”

His wife, Andrea, suggested there must be something they could do to comfort and assist at least one or two or a few people who lost their homes and have no insurance and few prospects for decent shelter.

The McEvoys run a small construction company. They decided they could build something: a tiny house or two.

Only about two weeks later, a dandy of a habitation on wheels is nearing completion alongside Charlie and Andrea's country home west of Santa Rosa.

It's 19 feet long, eight feet wide and when completed will feature a kitchen, a bathroom, a floor-level sleeping space and a loft big enough for a queen bed.

The McEvoys and friends in the building trades kicked in the labor and much of the materials. Donors to a crowdfunding appeal on GoFundMe have so far added nearly $11,000.

Charlie, who's 30, said he has pretty much all he needs to complete the first tiny house, and that he and his friends and sub-contractors would like to build a second.

Andrea said they'll offer the teeny houses to individuals or small families that were left homeless by the fires, had no insurance and are in great need of a place to live.

The recipients might stay in the tiny houses forever. Or maybe, said Andrea, the casitas will provide a safe haven until those occupying them figure out their next step.