Tag Archives: houses

Mobs attempt to torch houses of BJP leaders; opposition parties demand PM Modi’s intervention: Key develo – Times of India

  1. Mobs attempt to torch houses of BJP leaders; opposition parties demand PM Modi’s intervention: Key develo Times of India
  2. Kuki Man Appeals for Peace After Meitei Wife, Son Set On Fire in Violence-hit Manipur | Exclusive News18
  3. Mob Clashes With Cops In Manipur, Try To Set BJP Leaders’ House Afire & OtherHeadlines|News Wrap@8PM Hindustan Times
  4. Mobs in Manipur target BJP politicians’ houses, offices Times of India
  5. Professor-turned-BJP leader Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, the MoS External Affairs whose home was torched in Manipur The Indian Express
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Warren Buffett explains why he bought 5 Japanese trading houses: I was ‘confounded’ by the opportunity – CNBC

  1. Warren Buffett explains why he bought 5 Japanese trading houses: I was ‘confounded’ by the opportunity CNBC
  2. Buffett’s Japanese stock purchases could indicate a bigger plan, says Mobius Capital’s Mark Mobius CNBC Television
  3. Warren Buffett has his eyes on this one country when it comes to his future investments—and he already owns 6% of its top 5 companies Yahoo Finance
  4. Warren Buffett gives reason for surprise sale of stake in Taiwan’s TSMC CNN
  5. LIVE: Warren Buffett on Japanese bets, Berkshire Hathaway outlook Markets Insider
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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‘Summer House’s Carl Radke Left Loverboy and Is Building His Next Chapter With Lindsay Hubbard (Exclusive) – Entertainment Tonight

  1. ‘Summer House’s Carl Radke Left Loverboy and Is Building His Next Chapter With Lindsay Hubbard (Exclusive) Entertainment Tonight
  2. Summer House Lindsay Hubbard Reacts To Danielle’s Comments On Carl Radke Engagement Us Weekly
  3. Why Summer House ‘s Lindsay Hubbard Started Drinking Again and How Carl Radke Feels About It Yahoo Entertainment
  4. Summer House’s Carl Radke Says ‘It Would Be Crazy’ Not to Film His Wedding to Lindsay Hubbard PEOPLE
  5. Summer House’s Lindsay Hubbard Says Danielle Olivera’s Reaction to Carl Radke Engagement Was the ‘Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back’ Us Weekly
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Most Foreigners In Canada Banned From Buying Houses For 2 Years

Canada has clarified that the ban would apply only to city dwellings. (Representational)

Ottawa:

A ban on foreigners buying residential property in Canada took effect on Sunday, aiming to make more homes available to locals facing a housing crunch. Several exceptions in the act allow individuals such as refugees and permanent residents who are not citizens to buy homes.

In late December, Ottawa also clarified that the ban would apply only to city dwellings and not to recreational properties such as summer cottages.

The temporary two-year measure was proposed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2021 election campaign when soaring prices put home ownership beyond the reach of many Canadians.

“The desirability of Canadian homes is attracting profiteers, wealthy corporations, and foreign investors,” his Liberal Party said in its election plank at the time.

“This is leading to a real problem of underused and vacant housing, rampant speculation, and skyrocketing prices. Homes are for people, not investors.”

Following their 2021 election victory, the Liberals quietly introduced the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act.

Major markets such as Vancouver and Toronto have also introduced taxes on non-residents and empty homes.

Despite a recent heyday, the country’s real estate market has cooled for sellers as mortgage rates followed the Bank of Canada’s aggressive monetary policy in a bid to rein in inflation.

According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, average home prices have fallen from a peak of more than Can$800,000 (US$590,000) at the start of 2022 to just over Can$630,000 (US$465,000) last month.

Many experts have also said the ban on foreign buyers — who accounted for less than five percent of home ownership in Canada, according to the national statistical agency — would not have the desired effect of making homes more affordable.

Rather they point to a need for more housing construction to meet demand.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation — the national housing agency — said in a June report that close to 19 million housing units will be needed by 2030.

That means 5.8 million new homes must be built, or 3.5 million more than are currently anticipated to be built to meet that demand, it said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Rajouri Terror Attack’s Death Count Climbs To 4, Call For Bandh Today

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Indonesia needs earthquake-proof houses. Building them is a huge challenge



CNN
 — 

A deadly earthquake that reduced buildings to rubble in West Java, Indonesia has once again exposed the dangers of living in poorly built homes in one of the most seismically active zones on the planet.

Since Monday’s quake, survivors have been sleeping rough or in shelters away from homes vulnerable to collapse as aftershocks rattle buildings already compromised by the 5.9-magnitude quake that killed at least 310 people, according to the head of country’s National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB).

A further 24 people remain missing, Lieutenant General Suharyanto said Friday.

The shallow depth of the earthquake – just 10 kilometers (6 miles) – added to the pressure on structures across West Java, where more than a million people were exposed to very strong tremors, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Visiting the site on Tuesday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo promised that damaged homes – more than 56,000 of them – would be rebuilt to be earthquake-resistant.

“The houses affected by this earthquake are required to use earthquake-resistant building standards by the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing,” he said. “These earthquakes happen every 20 years. So the houses should be earthquake-resistant.”

But in a developing nation where about 43% of the population live in rural areas, in largely unsafe and poorly constructed homes, the task of making earthquake-resistant buildings remains a huge challenge.

As of Thursday, more than 61,000 people were displaced, according to the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) – and experts say the damage could have been mitigated by proper infrastructure.

Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 270 million people, sits along the Ring of Fire – a band around the Pacific Ocean where most active volcanoes lie and most earthquakes happen as tectonic plates push against each other, causing tremors.

Of the 310 people killed in Monday’s quake, at least 100 were children, many of whom were in school when the quake struck. A 6-year-old boy was pulled alive from the rubble of his home two days later, but many others weren’t so lucky.

The quake shook the foundations of buildings, causing the concrete structures to collapse and roofs to cave in. Photos showed broken scraps of metal, timber and bricks. Most of the people killed were crushed or trapped beneath debris, according to West Java’s governor, Ridwan Kamil. Others were killed in landslides.

Cleo Gaida Salima said when she heard about the quake, she tried to phone her mother in Cugenang, Cianjur, but when she failed to answer, she decided to drive there from her home in Bandung by motorbike.

The journey – about 65 kilometers (40 miles) – usually takes less than two hours. But with roads completely blocked by landslides, it took her 24.

“All the houses were covered with dirt and mud,” she said, adding that she was reunited with her family who survived the quake.

“We all cried with emotion and happiness,” she said. “Our whole family immediately ran out to save themselves. The earthquake was very strong.”

In Indonesia, houses were traditionally constructed from organic building materials including timber, bamboo and thatched grasses, owing to the hot and humid climate in the country.

These were considered to be sustainable homes, and largely durable in the event of an earthquake. However, increased deforestation and the high cost of timber led people to choose alternative materials, according to a 2009 study about post-disaster reconstruction in Indonesia from The Architectural Science Association.

More and more homes were built of brick and concrete, and while the facade may have appeared modern, underneath, the construction was poorly held together, the study said.

Moreover, the low quality of concrete and the poor steel reinforcing makes these structures increasingly susceptible to collapsing during a quake – while causing maximum injury owing to the weight of the materials, the report said.

Earthquake-resistant structures are designed to protect buildings from collapse and can work in two ways: by making buildings stronger, or by making them more flexible, so they sway and slide above the shaking ground rather than crumbling.

Architects have been developing this technology for decades, and engineers often adapt materials and techniques local to the region.

Architect Martijn Schildkamp, founder and director of Smart Shelter Consultancy, said his company helped to build about 20 schools in earthquake-prone Pokhara, in Nepal’s central region, seven years before a major quake.

When the quake hit in 2015, more than 8,000 people were killed, but the schools, made from traditional techniques and materials from the landscape, like rubble stone masonry, did not crumble.

“Our schools did not collapse,” he said. “They suffered just some cosmetic damage.”

He said in developed countries like Japan, knowledge, infrastructure and money are readily available to build earthquake-resistant buildings, but the high cost of building such structures makes it more difficult in developing countries.

In Nepal, many people build their homes with mud mortar, which is very brittle, Schildkamp said. “If it is completely unreinforced, there’s no extra strengthening in the building. This is what will collapse very easily,” he said.

Schildkamp’s team used cement mortar and inserted horizontal reinforcement poles into the structure to strengthen it, instead of vertical ones.

Building regulations should prevent the proliferation of shoddily built structures, but in some countries not enough is being done by governments to enforce the rules, Schildkamp said.

“We need knowledge and strategy in these countries. And we need governments to make these building codes mandatory,” he said.

In West Java, hope is fading of pulling more people alive from the quake debris.

Aftershocks are also complicating efforts, and residents are now living in fear the next disaster could once again topple their unstable homes.

While President Widodo said the government would provide compensation of up to about $3,200 each for owners of heavily damaged homes, many families in Cianjur lost everything. And now, they face the nearly impossible task of rebuilding.

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Fiona sweeps away houses, knocks out power in eastern Canada

TORONTO — Fiona washed houses into the sea, tore the roofs off others and knocked out power to the vast majority of two Canadian provinces as it made landfall before dawn Saturday as a big, powerful post-tropical cyclone.

Fiona transformed from a hurricane into a post-tropical storm late Friday, but it still had hurricane-strength winds and brought drenching rains and huge waves. There was no confirmation of fatalities or injuries.

Ocean waves pounded the town of Channel-Port Aux Basques on the southern coast of Newfoundland, where entire structures were washed into the sea. Mayor Brian Button said Saturday over social media that people were being evacuated to high ground as winds knocked down power lines.

“I’m seeing homes in the ocean. I’m seeing rubble floating all over the place. It’s complete and utter destruction. There’s an apartment that is gone,” René J. Roy, a resident of Channel-Port Aux Basques and chief editor at Wreckhouse Press, said in a phone interview.

Roy estimated between eight to 12 houses and buildings have washed into the sea. “It’s quite terrifying,” he said.

Fiona transformed from a hurricane into a post-tropical storm late Friday.
AP

Jolene Garland, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Newfoundland and Labrador, said a woman was safe and in “good health” after being “tossed into the water as her home collapsed” in the Channel-Port Aux Basques area. Garland said that an individual who might have been swept away was still reported as missing and that high winds were preventing an aerial search.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the town of 4,000 people was in a state of emergency as authorities dealt with multiple electrical fires and residential flooding.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau canceled his trip to Japan for the funeral for assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Trudeau said the federal government would deploy the Canadian Armed Forces to assist.

“We are seeing devastating images coming out of Port aux Basques. PEI (Prince Edward Island) has experienced storm damage like they’ve never seen. Cape Breton is being hit hard, too,” Trudeau said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau canceled his trip to Japan for the funeral for Shinzo Abe.
AP

“Canadians are thinking of all those affected by Hurricane Fiona, which is having devastating effects in the Atlantic provinces and eastern Quebec, particularly in the Magdalen Islands. There are people who see their houses destroyed, people who are very worried — we will be there for you.”

Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said the roof of an apartment building collapsed and they moved 100 people to an evacuation center. He said no one was seriously hurt or killed. Provincial officials said there are other apartment buildings that are also significantly damaged. Halifax has about 160 people displaced from two apartments, officials said.

More than 415,000 Nova Scotia Power customers — about 80% of the province of almost 1 million — were affected by outages Saturday morning. Over 82,000 customers in the province of Prince Edward Island, about 95%, were also without power, while NB Power in New Brunswick reported 44,329 were without electricity.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre tweeted early Saturday that Fiona had the lowest pressure ever recorded for a storm making landfall in Canada. Forecasters had warned it could be the one of the most powerful storms to hit the country.

“We’re getting more severe storms more frequently,” Trudeau said Saturday.

He said more resilient infrastructure is needed to be able withstand extreme weather events, saying a one in a 100-year storm might start to hit every few years because of climate change.

“Things are only getting worse,” Trudeau said.

A state of local emergency was also declared by the mayor and council of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

“There are homes that have been significantly damaged due to downed trees, big old trees falling down and causing significant damage. We’re also seeing houses that their roofs have completely torn off, windows breaking in. There is a huge amount of debris in the roadways,” Amanda McDougall, mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, told The Associated Press

“There is a lot of damage to belongings and structures but no injuries to people as of this point. Again we’re still in the midst of this,” she said. “It’s still terrifying. I’m just sitting here in my living room and it feels like the patio doors are going to break in with those big gusts.”

The roof of an apartment building collapsed and they moved 100 people to an evacuation center in Halifax.
AP

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said roads were washed out, including his own, and said an “incredible” amount of trees were down.

“It is pretty devastating. The sad reality is the people who need information are unable to hear it. Their phones are not working, they don’t have power or access to the internet,” Houston said.

Peter Gregg, President and CEO of Nova Scotia Power, said unprecedented peak winds caused severe damage. “In many areas, weather conditions are still too dangerous for our crews to get up in our bucket trucks,” Gregg said. He said about 380,000 customers remain without power as of Saturday afternoon.

Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King said they had no reports of any significant injuries or deaths. But he said few communities were spared damage, with the devastation looking to be beyond anything they had seen previously in the province. He said over 95% of islanders remained without power.

Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair said there was very extensive damage at the airport in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He said other airports also were hit, but that damage at the Halifax facility, Nova Scotia’s largest airport, was minor.

Fiona had weakened to tropical storm strength late Saturday afternoon as it moved across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In its final report on Fiona, the U.S. hurricane center said it had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph). It was centered about 80 miles (130 kilomters) northwest of Port aux Basques and moving northeast at 8 mph (13 kph).

Tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 550 miles (890 kilometers).

Hurricanes in Canada are somewhat rare, in part because once the storms reach colder waters, they lose their main source of energy. But post-tropical cyclones still can have hurricane-strength winds, although they have a cold core and no visible eye. They also often lose their symmetric form and more resemble a comma.

In Sydney, Nova Scotia, the largest city in Cape Breton, about 20 people took refuge at the Centre 200 sports and entertainment facility, said Christina Lamey, a spokeswoman for the region. Lamey said there were hundreds of people displaced in the province.

Arlene and Robert Grafilo fled to Centre 200 with their children, ages 3 and 10, after a huge tree fell on their duplex apartment.

“We were trapped and we couldn’t open the doors and the windows, so that’s when we decided to call 911,” Arlene Grafilo said. She said firefighters eventually rescued them.

Fiona so far has been blamed for at least five deaths.
AP

Peter MacKay, a former foreign minister and defense minister who lives in Nova Scotia, said he and his family had a long night and said the winds were still raging in the afternoon.

“We had put everything we could out of harm’s way, but the house got hammered pretty hard. Lost lots of shingles, heavy water damage in ceilings, walls, our deck is destroyed. A garage that I was building blew away,” MacKay said in an email to The Associated Press.

“Never seen anything like it. Lived through some crazy weather,” he added.

He called the images from Newfoundland heartbreaking.

Fiona so far has been blamed for at least five deaths — two in Puerto Rico, two in the Dominican Republic and one in the French island of Guadeloupe.

In the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Ian was predicted to rapidly strengthen in the coming days. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it could move over western Cuba and toward the west coast of Florida or the Florida Panhandle by the middle of next week.

Ian was centered about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south of Kingston, Jamaica, early Saturday evening. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was moving west at 14 mph (22 kph). A hurricane watch was issued for the Cayman Islands.

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Cardano Creator Charles Hoskinson Warns That the White House’s New Crypto Proposals Pose Grave Threat to Bitcoin

Cardano (ADA) creator Charles Hoskinson is warning that new recommendations by the US government do not bode well for Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets.

Taking issue with the recommendations of a new White House Office of Science and Technology Policy report that calls for the involvement of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to create evidence-based environmental standards for the responsible design of digital assets, Hoskinson says the proposals could result in an outright ban of Bitcoin.

“[The] EPA and DoE are going to start talking to crypto companies to basically tell them to change the way that their cryptocurrencies work.

And which way? Well, these should include, ‘Standards for very low energy intensities, low water usage, low noise generation, clean energy usage by operators and standards that strengthen over time for additional carbon-free generation to match and exceed additional electricity load of their facilities.

Should these measures prove ineffective at reducing impacts, the administration should explore executive actions and Congress might consider legislation to limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining.’

In other words, Bitcoin should be banned. That’s how you read that.”

The report is a response to an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in March calling for “responsible digital asset innovation.”

According to Hoskinson, the US government can employ various strategies to achieve its objectives that could spell bad news for proof-of-work crypto assets.

“The White House is now basically hiding in page seven a report no one will ever see or read: ‘Hey Mia, nice thing you got there with proof of work but, you know, global warming bad. So we should ban it.’

And we will soft ban it by having the EPA and DoE come in and basically create standards that you can’t adhere to.

And then when you can’t, create some form of executive order or legislation to basically prevent you from being able to do it.

Or destroy your profit margins so it’s no longer profitable for the American mining industry.”

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Balch Springs brush fire burns 26 houses, leaving dozens homeless

BALCH SPRINGS — A large grass fire spread Monday afternoon into a Balch Springs neighborhood where it burned 26 homes — destroying nine of them — and leaving dozens of people homeless.

The fire started as workers mowed a nearby field at the northwest corner of Interstate 20 and South Belt Line Road, according to Balch Springs Fire Marshal Sean Davis, though officials are still investigating whether anyone is at fault. A row of homes along Broadview Drive, not far from Mackey Elementary School, caught fire. By Monday evening the grass fire had been contained and the house fires were out. There were no injuries, and officials said they were investigating whether someone was at fault.

Some neighborhood residents tried to stave off the fire with garden hoses. Others had just minutes to get out of their homes, leaving everything behind.

“Lost everything. Just everything,” said homeowner Miguel Quinonez, who had lived in the house with his wife for almost 14 years. He said he’d just bought a new truck that burned in the garage.

The fire in Balch Springs, a town of about 25,000 people just southeast of Dallas, came as firefighters across North Texas are battling fires that have destroyed dozens of homes, with drought and unseasonably high temperatures creating dangerous conditions. The fire marshal said the Balch Springs field tends to have a few fires a year that are put out quickly.

“It’s happening in a lot of places, just people out cutting hay or grass or something, and they’re clipping something they didn’t see, and it’s starting a fire and then traveling like crazy,” Davis said.

Officials don’t have an exact number of those displaced. They will give an update at 9 a.m. Tuesday to let residents know when they can return.

“We’re in unique weather conditions right now,” with hot weather and dry ground.

Wanda Blanchette-Ware said she barely had time to wake up her son Jacoby Ogunniyi and two dogs, Bella and Lola, to get out of their Balch Springs house as the fire approached.

Her son works during the day and had slept through the police knocking on the door. She said she went and banged on his window.

“Honey there’s a fire, please get up!” she said, awakening him.

Blanchette-Ware said she saw her neighbors watering their grass but the fire was too strong.

”Then the wind came and blew the fire all the way down the street,” she said.

As the fire spread, the fire marshal called for an evacuation of all homes and structures on Broadview Drive and Bell Manor Court, which also backs up to the field where the grass fire started.

Balch Springs City Manager Susan Cluse said the city is working with the Red Cross to set up an overnight shelter at a city recreation center, and some local hotels will put up residents and their pets for a longer period of time. The Red Cross will help displaced residents get essentials, find temporary housing and start insurance documentation. Residents whose homes weren’t damaged can stay in them.

“Right now, we don’t know where we’re going to spend the night tonight,” said Roberto Pinero, whose home of 13 years, that he had recently remodeled, was destroyed. He said his son called him about the fire, and “when I went and opened the back door the fire hit my face, and I take my family out.”

Fire crews from Dallas and other nearby cities assisted Balch Springs crews.

Residents said there have been several recent fires in the area. Some expressed concern that the grass in the field where the fire started had been allowed to grow too tall.

“That area has been undeveloped for so long, it’s just like kindling out there,” said Joe Perez, a homeowner who lives about four houses away from the fire.

Figures from the Dallas Central Appraisal District showed that the homes were built around 2005 and appraised in the mid-$200,000s.

Michael Jaramillo was at work when he got texts alerting him that his home was on fire. It was among the destroyed houses.

“It’s just sad. I don’t really care about the things, all the clothes and stuff,” he said. “I’m thinking about the things I can’t get back, the photos of my brothers and sisters and everything like that.”

Resident Wendy Reppond was searching the neighborhood Monday afternoon for her cat, Miss Kitty. Reppond said she was able to grab her two dogs and bird, but she didn’t have time to find the bird cage.

“The third house down from me, that one’s gone,” she said. “I can’t find my cat. They won’t let me back in to find my cat.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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We moved our family of six into a shed after we lost our jobs

It’s a sheddy life — but mom-of-four Jessica Taylor wouldn’t have it any other way. 

In June 2020, after facing financial difficulties due to the pandemic, she and her husband, Lath, decided to shed the comforts of their three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in northwest Arkansas. The family of six moved into a 500-square-foot toolshed. Friends thought it was a very bizarre way to downsize.

“One of the things people find really weird about us living in a shed is that we use a composting bathroom rather than a traditional toilet,” Taylor, 30, who now resides in a lofted shed in western Tennessee, told The Post. 

“It’s a bucket system,” the former bartender-turned-home-schooler (or shed-schooler) explained of her hut’s outhouse. “And [when] you [urinate or defecate], you cover it with wood chips each time. After two days, whether the bucket is full or not, we dump [the waste] into a composting bin in the woods, and then after a couple of years, [the waste] turns into soil for ornamental plants.“

In the face of money problems brought on by the pandemic, Taylor and her husband moved their family of six into a toolshed.
Jessica Taylor

But indoor plumbing is one of the very few amenities the family’s lodge is missing. 

“The shed is two stories and has electricity, running water, a heat/cooling system, a 65-inch flat-screen television, a stainless steel refrigerator, an electric stove and foldout futons that we use as beds,” said Taylor, who’s shared clips of the chic shack with her more than 66,700 social media followers. 

After buying the wooden workshop for $6,000 at a roadside hardware stand, she and Lath, 42, invested another $7,000 in renovations, which included adding a staircase that leads to its lofted area, privacy walls and an outdoor porch. 

The parents used monies from their tax returns, stimulus checks and unemployment to fund their housing project. 

They also invested in a $4,000 well, which supplies them with water for drinking, cleaning and showering. (The family uses a long, retractable faucet that extends from their kitchenette to outside the shed, where they shower under the cover of trees.) 

Taylor’s husband added a staircase, privacy walls, an outdoor porch and a second shed to their tiny home, which is stationed on an acre of her mom’s west Tennessee property.
Jessica Taylor

Their brood, with kids ranging in age from 3 to 9, is part of the growing number of folks ditching their sprawling, oft-expensive digs to live in outdoor storage units that typically house gardening equipment or sporting goods. It’s a no-frills take on the tiny house movement, with a dash of #VanLife for those looking for cozy, economical simplicity. On TikTok, shed dwellers have stamped videos of their hovels-turned-homes with the hashtag #ShedLife over 22.2 million times. 

“More and more people are breaking free from the mindset that you have to have the big expensive, fancy house to feel like they’re making it,” said Taylor of the allure of shed life. “There’s value in living modestly. We’re able to spend more time together gardening and enjoying nature rather than working to afford lavish accommodations.”

The Taylors spent $6,000 on the shed and another $11,000 renovating the space to make it comfortable for six people.
Jessica Taylor

Fellow shed-living trendsetters Nick and Meghan Lucid recently went viral for sharing how they converted an 860-square-foot Tuff shed from Home Depot into a lavish two-level estate, complete with one bedroom, a finished bathroom, a laundry room and a walk-in closet. Footage of their revamped cottage has scored over 2 million views. 

Like the Taylors, the couple downsized for financial reasons brought on by COVID.

“Right after the pandemic hit, me and Lath lost our jobs at a restaurant where we’d worked for years,” Taylor explained to The Post. “Before that, we were renting a big $1,100 brick house in Arkansas, but we just couldn’t afford it and our other household bills anymore.”

Taylor credits #ShedLife with helping her family get out of debt and granting her the opportunity of becoming a stay-at-home mom.
Jessica Taylor

After moving eight hours away and relocating onto her mom’s 6-acre property, where they’ve stationed their shed rent-free, the family’s monthly overhead has been reduced from more than $2,000 to a measly $400.

“Since we moved into the shed, we’ve become really financially stable, and we’re getting close to being debt-free,” said Taylor, adding that the cost-effective move has also allowed her to become a stay-at-home mom. Reducing their monthly expenses even allowed them to buy an $11,000 garden shed to use as a second home. 

“The kids love [our new lifestyle] because we’re able to spend more quality time together than when I was working,” said Taylor. “It’s been really great.”

And #ShedLife isn’t just for families. 

Millennial and Gen Z economists are now investing in sheds rather than apartments in order to save money and live close to home.
Mia Puhakka

Mia Puhakka, 17, bypassed the stress of first-time apartment-hunting by setting up camp in her parents’ backyards. 

“My mom and dad like having me at home, so I don’t pay rent [while I’m living in the shed],” Puhakka, a part-time office assistant from Ontario, Canada, told The Post. Clips of her humble abode have garnered upward of 1.3 million views.  

Her family purchased and renovated the 12-foot-by-24-foot structure for about $9,300 from shed-dealers Old Hickory Buildings in 2019. Puhakka has since decked out the space with finished cedar and birch floors and walls, a mounted flat-screen television and a working fireplace. 

And when she needs to use the restroom, she commutes a few feet to mom and dad’s. It’s a perfect setup for someone on the verge of adulthood.

“I get my own space without having to pay for an apartment or a house, and I don’t pay for Wi-Fi or electricity because my shed is just connected to my [parents’] house,” said Puhakka.

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Hornell, New York hate crime: 3 people charged after police say pamphlets with hate symbols were placed at houses of worship

Aubrey Dragonetti, 31, Dylan Henry, 30, and Ryan Mulhollen, 27, each faces 115 counts of the felony charge — one for each pamphlet that was allegedly placed in the community, Hornell Police Chief T.J. Murray told CNN.

The pamphlets and stickers contained the words “Aryan National Army” and included an image of a skull inside a swastika, Murray said. He added that authorities were alerted after a churchgoer attended a morning service and found one posted on the door of a church with a predominantly Black congregation.

“Then we went to a local park and within that park we ended up finding them scattered throughout the park and posted on different areas,” Murray said. “Our patrols ended up intercepting the two males that were arrested as they were dispersing these items throughout the community.”

The suspects made statements to authorities, Murray said, but he declined to provide details on what was said.

Murray told CNN he doesn’t believe there’s any active threat against the church or synagogue at this time and has offered the houses of worship extra security.

The police chief said he believed the three suspects “were all acting collectively” to distribute the pamphlets. CNN could not determine whether they have legal representation but has reached out to the suspects for comment.

Hornell Mayor John Buckley told CNN he was “shocked and appalled” by the distribution of hate symbols in the community, which he describes as an old railroad town that swells with visitors during the summer months and winter holidays. Hornell is roughly 85 miles southeast of downtown Buffalo.

“It’s not reflective of who we are as a community here in Hornell,” Buckley said. “Hornell is a very warm, welcoming and accepting community and there’s no room for any hate whatsoever.”

CNN has reached out to the local district attorney for comment about the case.

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