Canadian ID students design low-cost homes for homeless, but the government's not interested
ID students at Canada's Emily Carr University had an interesting class assignment to tackle last Spring: "Come up with a 64 square-foot living space for homeless citizens that would have a price point of $1,500."
Students in the 15-week course interviewed homeless people and directors of shelters and support agencies to design structures made of pine beetle wood and 30 per cent recycled building material.
The result is cheap, basic shelters capable of giving homeless people a place to live. The concept would be to cluster 10 or 12 of the little houses around a communal kitchen and washroom. Improvements could be made for about what the government is paying to renovate a single suite in one of their Single Resident Occupancy (SRO) hotels scattered around the city.
Unfortunately, calls to municipal governments in Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster have failed to drum up any interest, despite the project's financial similarity to SRO renovations.
The takeaway: Design with even the best of intentions is nothing without (shudder) good marketing.
image links:
http://megaphonemagazine.com/content/homes_less_emily_carr’s_homeless_housing_project_finally_finds_home.html
http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/canadian_id_students_design_lowcost_homes_for_homeless_but_the_governments_not_interested_11755.asp
video link:
http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081115/BC_64_foot_housing_081115/20081115/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
