Many dusun (sub-village) members in Sleman regency are not only using their transitional houses (T-Shelters) as living quarters, but have come up with other innovative uses for these spaces.

Titi Wahyuni, traditional stall at Candisingo, Sleman

Villager Titi Wahyuni of dusun Candisingo has opened a warung (a stall) in her shelter, selling traditional Javanese salad lotek (assorted raw vegetables mixed with peanut sauce), snacks, and drinks. From her warung, one can see the mattress where she, her husband, and their two children sleep. There is a bamboo partition separating the sleeping area from the stall. She said life goes on and she has to earn a living.
“Before we got this shelter, I sold snacks in our makeshift tent to earn some money,” Titi, 33, said. She and her husband, Agus Mujiono, 35, have placed two wooden benches and a small television set in the warung. “They’re for serving the customers better,” she says. Thanks to the street side location of their house, her business is doing quite well. Titi said she hopes to keep the transitional shelter as a warung for as long as possible. She adds that she is anxious for her permanent house to be completed so that she can then convert the whole T-shelter into a warung.

Tri yanto, decent kitchen in Tinjon, Madurejo village, Sleman

Not far from Titi’s hometown, in dusun Tinjon of Madurejo village, Tri Yanto, 28, and his wife, Sakti Wijayanti, 28, also hope to soon move into their permanent house. When they do, Tri said, they intend to keep their shelter as an extension of their new permanent house.
“It’s the only way we could have a bigger house we otherwise could not afford,” Tri said.
Like Titi’s T-Shelter, Tri also has a 24- sqm transitional house that is divided into two parts using a bamboo-mat partition. One section is used as a bedroom and the other space is the
living area and kitchen. “I hope to give my wife a decent kitchen one day, bigger than that corner over there,” Tri said, pointing to the narrow corner where his wife usually cooks their meals on a kerosene stove.

Ahmad Juari, chicken house in Tinjon,, Sleman

While families like Tri and Titi still hope to keep their transitional house as part of their living quarters, Tri’s neighbor, Ahmad Juari, 82, has his own ideas.
Ahmad said he and his wife no longer need to live in the T-shelter as their permanent house was completed in early 2008. They now live in their new house.
“Being an animal farmer, my choice was to use the shelter as a chicken house,” Ahmad said. About 50 chickens are now the latest beneficiaries of Ahmad’s former T-Shelter.