Shawnee Chasser has been told to tear down her treehouse home or face paying huge fines in violations.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
1 Where’s the treehouse built?
2 How long has she been living there?
3 How many people has she cooked for in her kitchen?
4 Why is she facing eviction from her treehouse?
5 How much money does she have to pay for the violations she has committed?
6 How did her son die?
7 When did Shawnee first move out?
8 How is she collecting money for her legal battle?
Welcome to paradise!
Grandmother Shawnee lives in this treehouse, built in her son’s back garden, and she shares it with her two dogs, two cats and pet raccoon.
This is the treehouse, the famous treehouse. I’ve been living in here for 10 years. This is my beautiful home. My tine house in a tree. Actually, my mansion in a tree. There is my raccoon.
Hi, Coony. Are you being a good boy?
I have everything in this kitchen that anybody needs and there are refrigerator, my little oven, wi-fi, and I’ve cooked for 40 people in this kitchen. It is the sweetest little space and I don’t have windows or anything like that, I don’t need them. Well, you know, everyone thinks I’m a little nuts. His favourite thing in the world, blueberries. Where are you? Coony! Prrr. And I didn’t choose this, and I didn’t really even choose this battle with code enforcement. This gate is now the latest violation, they are saying it wasn’t permitted.
Despite having lived happily in the treehouse for over 10 years, Shawnee is now facing eviction having not applied for planning permission when she first built it.
For me in my life, I’ve pretty much done everything without permit. I have always lived outside of the box and it really, most of it never occurred to me. Probably a year ago, I got the first notice to knock it down and then they added five more fines, and now I’m just drowning in violations. I hear I have $30,000 in violations. It’s just out of control and I have put in about $11,000 over the year.
Tragically seven years ago, her son passed away, and now her treehouse has become even more precious to her.
He is the reason I’m here. He died of an unexpected heart attack and he was my best friend, and right now after a year of paying about $11,000 in fines with code enforcement, and crying a lot, and being so sad, we’re working every day trying to figure this out. This is the most heavenly place to sleep in the whole world. Where I get to visit with the squirrels, where the rain, I can touch the rain, I can watch the clouds and the storms come in, and hangout with my raccoon. Come here, come here, he always wants to play.
Hey, hey, hey!
My two dogs, my two cats and my raccoon sleep up here at night. The best thing about waking up every morning to this is that I can kind of pretend I’m not in Miami. I feel like I’m out in the woods.
Shawnee first moved outdoors 40 years ago after giving birth to her first child and developing anxiety around living indoors.
I’m getting diagnosed by a doctor this week because I have claustrophobia and can’t live indoors. So what do you do with somebody that can’t live indoors?
Shawnee is now raising money online so she can continue her battle to keep her very unique home.
If this was taken away from me, it would take part of me away, and I don’t think it’s going to happen, I have enough people that want to chain themselves to it. It’s my everything, it’s my little tiny living space. It’s where my heart is, it’s where I feel good. Yeah, it’s my inside.
Key:
1 In her son’s back garden
2 Ten years
3 Forty
4 She didn’t apply for permission to build it
5 $30,000
6 Of an unexpected heart attack
7 Forty years ago after her first child birth
8 She’s raising money online
