Mad Housers, Inc. is a non-profit corporation based in Atlanta and engaged in charitable work, research and education.
The Mad Housers first emerged in 1987, founded by graduate students, Michael Connor and Brian Finkel, of Georgia Tech's College of Architecture[1] to address the problem of homelessness in Atlanta.
[2] Mad Housers helps their clients squat on small lots away from general view in industrial areas or near the edge of transportation facilities.
[5]: 93–95 Tracy Woodard and Nick Hess took over the organization in 1999 and have been building huts at a rate of about 15 per year near where campers are already camping.
One Mad Houser explained in a newspaper article, "secrecy was necessary […] to avoid arrest and prevent the Georgia Department of Transportation […] from tearing them down".
[2] Then, in 1990, an hour-long documentary aired on 90 TV stations around the nation dramatizing the Mad Houser's work.
[10] Even though huts were welcomed by the homeless, municipal officials obligated to uphold vagrancy laws and building codes were not thrilled and their reactions in 2004 were in between "grudging tolerance to outrage".