Shacked up at the Union

Call it a conversation piece.

“We want people to walk up to us and ask, ‘What are you… Call it a conversation piece.

“We want people to walk up to us and ask, ‘What are you doing? What are you about?'” said Tim Raufer of Pitt’s Habitat for Humanity group, explaining why the organization built an 8-foot-by-12-foot plywood “Habishack” on the William Pitt Union lawn.

Throughout the week, the group will hold barbeques and give out free food and information to attract students to the organization, which builds houses for people with low incomes.

Each night, the group members will tuck themselves into sleeping bags and camp out in the plywood box.

“Once you spend a night in the shack, you really understand the need for simple, decent housing,” Raufer said.

Steven Burch, who spent Monday night in the Habishack, said the experience was not particularly unpleasant.

“The floor was not as hard as I was expecting, and it wasn’t as cold as I was expecting,” he said.

Burch added that he thinks the shack serves a good purpose.

“We are just trying to make a statement about how people live in [a low-income] situation,” he said. “It’s something that a lot of people ignore, but it’s harder to ignore when it’s on the Union lawn.”