Housing The Homeless In Shipping Containers.

Post Reply New Topic

Shipping container homes are becoming a popular choice when developing housing for the homeless.  The low cost and speed of the building process are huge advantages compared to a traditionally constructed home.  Another benefit is that the units can be picked up and moved to a new location if needed.  Container homes are extremely structurally sound, making them an ideal temporary living quarters for those trying to get back on their feet.  Below is an example of a 20′ efficient apartment.  The living space may be small, around 160 square feet, but is equipped with a shower, toilet, sink, cooking area, sleeping area, air conditioning, and heat.

Source:  This Article 

Los Angeles is looking for innovative ways to create a lot of new affordable housing, and fast.  Trailers, converted motels, and tiny backyard houses are already being touted by public officials as ways to temporarily or permanently shelter the homeless.  Another solution is "Cargotecture", or architecture built from repurposed shipping containers.  Cheap, durable, and often quite charming, the corrugated steel structures have already found fans in a number of L.A. retailers and restaurateurs.

Local architecture firm KTGY Architecture + Planning is the first in L.A. to transform shipping containers into homeless housing on Westlake's Hope on Alvarado project.  Comprised of 84 units of transitional housing, the four-story complex is centered around a central courtyard, and includes supportive services and bike parking for each tenant.

Artist's Concept

Shipping containers will be converted into temporary housing situations for homeless people living in Newark Penn Station in early February, 2021.  The use of shipping containers in construction should not be a foreign concept to NJIT students, already accustomed to the rapid testing center across Greek Village, but its use as municipal housing units may be new.  There are clear advantages in the choice to use modular homes.  They are often much cheaper than alternatives, take less time to construct and can easily be stacked and transported.  Such homes have been used in multiple cities like Los Angeles, Oakland and Tampa Bay to aid in tackling homelessness.  These residences would also be attached to social services intended to aid the transition into permanent housing.  The project will be undertaken by a company known as Homes 4 the Homeless, but details such as location, number of homes and cost are still to be announced.

Source:  This Vector News Article 

Okay, the title was a bit misleading for me, meaning that I took it to be negative. On the contrary, it's very innovative.

Now....if the residents don’t mess the place up!

Most probably wouldn’t—but the hard-core mentally ill-drug addict might. Some might seek to sell the container material for scrap money to feed their habits.

This is realism.

I think that's an awesome idea.

Also I think I have read some things about how much of the time these kind of solutions can help. Whilst some people maybe just cannot be helped many homeless people who get such an opportunity would make good of it a lot of them do just need a little stability to get started.

This is needed in Colorado around Denver for sure, people should not be living in tents in the city in the winter. Also, it is much more hazardous for passersby than if they had a place off the street to stay. I suspect it would actually cost the city less to put up cheap housing like this for those people than to constantly shuffle them around and clean up their camp spots.

I suspect there would be some stipulations in place to prevent selling the container, also from the look in some of the pictures they would be stacked into more of a building anyways...someone would certainly notice if someone was trying to scrap out their container.

Some hard core more mentally ill drug addicted may need more like a treatment facility than a shipping container unit though. But yeah sure there is the risk a more unstable person could cause damage to a unit, but then again they are supposed to be cost efficient so presumably it shouldn't be too devastating if a few trash their unit.

There’s so many homeless in NYC.

On any train even during rush hour, you will see at least five homeless people for each train. That’s a conservative estimate.

Honestly, I think just modifying retired container ships to serve as permanent, stationary platforms for container "cities" isn't a bad idea. Part of the problem in some places is that there isn't anywhere to build housing, affordable or otherwise.

I have 2-3 books about this, as well as about modern homes in general.

It's an ingenious idea. Another solution is to repurpose former malls and big box stores into affordable housing. Now that Fry's is no more, they could use their former locations, even keeping the facades either as decoration or as a community building for the complex.

Europe and East Asia use much less "innovative" social acceptance for living in tiny (or medium if you afford it) apartaments stacked in multi-story blocks.

BTW, here, construction workers are often accommodated in containers like that.

What is the 'progressive' estimate? [joke]

Many of the homeless have mental illness and are on the street, now that the governments have changed their policies.

Well, one of my colleagues lives in a 13 square metre (140 square feet) room in a shared apartment with 3 others.

She is a full-time central government employee with a university degree.

Suddenly, my 50 square metre apartment seems like a sprawling mansion in comparison.

Last edited by GGPViper on 11 Mar 2021, 2:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

They would have to be extremely cost-efficient.

I think I watched an episode of "Grand designs" where recycled shipping containers were turned into boutique inner city housing in places like Scandinavia. I am sure Ikea will come up with DIY houses soon.

How many homeless people you can smell in each train?