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How one Roanoke man is tackling the homelessness problem, one tiny house at a time.
Roanoke native Brandon Brando, a freelance audio-visual tech, has never grasped the concept of how the richest country in the world can have so many people living on the streets. According to data collected from a Blue Ridge Continuum of Care Report, there are hundreds of people experiencing homelessness throughout the Roanoke Valley at any given time.
Courtesy of Brandon Brando
Brandon Brando’s tiny house creation was a way to help someone in need, and he has plans to build more living stations before the end of 2023.
Housing and homelessness remain two of Virginia’s most pressing crises.
Helping the less fortunate has always made Brando, 37, feel empowered. A conversation with a homeless veteran a few years ago changed how he looked at life. “I used to take walks through my neighborhood, and I eventually befriended a homeless gentleman that lived in a cardboard box with a tarp over it. I saw him often and we had some deep conversations. I quickly realized that giving him a couple dollars wasn’t going to solve his issue. I wanted to impact his way of living, and that would be to provide him with some sort of shelter,” Brando says.
He adds, “Unbeknownst to me at the time, he was homeless and living out of his car. Because I took an interest in his life story with no judgment, he opened up to me, and I was able to help him enter a new chapter in his life. That experience reinforced to me that just because one is homeless doesn’t necessarily mean it is their fault. Sometimes life just gives you a bad set of cards.”
Part of the reason Brando believes the homelessness problem remains an issue is because so many have the mindset that if they ignore it, the problem will simply go away.
“Experience tells me that most people don’t need much to feel like they have a place to call home. Individuals who come from privilege sometimes have a difficult time comprehending how the most simple things can make all the difference in the world. My parents raised me to be unapologetic when it comes to helping others and I wholeheartedly credit them for my giving spirit,” he says.
Courtesy of Brandon Brando
Last summer, after building a tiny home in Georgia for another veteran, Brando was moved to build a tiny home for a Roanoke woman named Dawn after learning of her story. Since strategy plays a role in everything that Brando does, he was very meticulous on how he approached the task at hand.
Want to learn more about freelance audio-visual tech Brandon Brando and his work building tiny homes for those in need? Check out the latest issue, now on newsstands, or see it for free in our digital guide linked below!
The story above is a preview from our May/June 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!