Help us build free housing for organizers!

When someone we know needs a place to live, we build them one.

When someone we know spends all of their time helping other people and working towards systemic change, they don't owe rent to some landlord.

When someone we know comes from multi-generational poverty, grew up in multiple foster homes, came out as trans in middle school, and worked countless shitty jobs, and all they want to do is overthrow all of these systems, we support them.

We've done all of this before, and we'll keep doing this.

Find space that's not being used, and turn it into housing.

This is a model that you can replicate. It doesn't require donations from rich people. It doesn't require a nonprofit. It just requires some materials, some skills, and some work.

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Building Circle is a small, collectively-run construction company that does everything from little fixes to renovations, additions, and new builds. Founded in 2018, our work in construction is also put toward building and maintaining movement infrastructure, running skill-shares and community events, and practicing cooperation rather than competition every day.

Another crucial facet of our work is securing housing for folks in our community, and something that we've done about once a year is build a new apartment in an existing house for someone we know that's losing their current housing. This year, that's one of our friends and coworkers. He's a young trans person that grew up in foster care in Providence, and is unable to keep living in his current apartment. He spends all of his time supporting other people, organizing with multiple housing organizations to address homelessness and public health. We've been able to line up a great space to build an apartment, and we're already starting the work.

So: we're putting out this ask because we know folks want to help, and there are many ways to do that!

Raising funds will support this build, and allow us to more easily construct a space that's livable and comfortable, so donate if you can!

Or, if you have building materials of various kinds, that can help too - we're in particular need of kitchen and bathroom fixtures and appliances, as well as large amounts of flooring.

Or, if you want to volunteer, we have multiple days where we'll be moving large amounts of materials up two flights of stairs, or doing some other fun and easy construction work. (This is also a great way to learn some skills at the same time, particularly if you don't mind being hot and sweaty).

And one more unrelated-but-very-related note: in the bigger picture, we hope that these fundraisers can start turning into an affordable housing revolving fund, where our work and your support can consistently be used to build more housing for folks who need it. There may soon be more opportunities to do this more sustainably and affordably, too, since RI and MA both passed new laws this year allowing every one- and two-family home to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). (That means a separate apartment within a house, or a second small house on the property if the property is large enough). This could mean quite a lot of potential new housing that's very cost effective to build!