Homeless church deacon arrested for living in 'tiny house' donated by good Samaritans in San Diego, CA

Michael Clark and Lisa Kogan in front of the tiny house built through donations (Facebook/Lisa Kogan)

A homeless man, who works as a deacon at a church, was arrested by police officers in San Diego, California a week after he started living in a "tiny house" donated by good Samaritans.

Michael Clark was arrested on Tuesday after he started using the tiny home built through the donations by local resident Lisa Kogan and her friends.

"They [police officers] said, 'Well, we are going to give him two hours to move it,'" said witness Anthony Brown, who saw the arrest of Clark, according to ABC10 News. "Five minutes later there was a tow truck here and they took the house away."

Brown said the police handcuffed Clark instead of giving him a ticket.

"Had they written him a ticket and asked him to move the house he could have had plenty of help. There was no discussion of a ticket. It was immediate handcuffs," he said.

Kogan said she was inspired to build the home for Clark after she saw a YouTube video of a man who built tiny homes for the homeless.

"I became inspired and I got my friends behind and donated money. We built it last month. It's a little house, it's moveable; it has wheels," she said.

She said "there's a need out here; there's a need for people to have shelter."

Clark received the tiny house a week ago. He was arrested by the police while inside the house, located just across the street from the International Love Ministries of God where he works as a deacon. The church helps the homeless in the downtown district.

Kogan said she does not understand why Clark was arrested.

"If you look all around the street, there's tents," Kogan said. "I don't understand why he was singled out when his house was right here on the sidewalk. And you can look down the street and across the street and there are tents everywhere."

Clark is facing charges of encroaching and lodging without consent.

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