'Earthquake Shacks' Built In 1906 Aftermath May Provide Lessons For San Francisco Housing Woes

[@edp2260]

One BIG element was present in 1906 that is missing today:There were laws, and the laws were enforced. I really doubt that the original residents of those 'earthquake shacks' did hard drugs or had a criminal record. Everyone tried to dress their best, even the 'working class'. Mess and squalor were SHAMED. Dignity was achieved through work. Also, there was still a good bit of late 19th century optimism: we can do this! Just 9 years after the earthquake and fire, the City hosted a 'we are back' party: the Panama-Pacific International Exposition!

[@pmack1984]

Valid point

[@richardsisk1770]

Excellent reporting. Thank you 😊

[@Lion_McLionhead]

Not enough land to do that now. They'd have to be stacked shacks.

[@undiscloseduser2004]

so easy to do this, we have SO MUCH land and MORE MECHANICAL capabilities (logistics, machines , workers, the need for work etc) look at the mission bay, we have MASSISVE parts of open land that could EASILY home ALL of our homeless. 100%+

[@mixedhairless]

Amazing, as a kid growing up in SF I had numerous friends who lived in these, and I never knew the history. Thanks for this story…

[@itstime3088]

The problem wasn't a house, it was The land and codes which the city enforce on you.

[@StevenTorrey]

Um, the homeowner wants assurances the house won't collapse on his family, the electrical circuit is properly installed to prevent fire or danger, the plumbing works properly so that sanitation waste doesn't pollute the ground water table. Yeah, there is a reason for those rules & regulations & building codes! You would be the first to sue if something went wrong with the building because the contractor didn't follow the codes!

[@norcaldeemichaels]

The people in 1906 were prior homeowners with jobs, and had the ambition to restore their lifestyles. In other words, meth addiction, & the irreversible mental disorders it brings was non-existent at the time. Build a tiny house village & it’ll be a crime-ridden fire-prone junkyard. Look at parts of west Oakland.

[@ripsaa2693]

Bingo spot on..this guy is clueless

[@IanCthrwd]

It takes a natural disaster or loss of life in great numbers to band together the survivors to form decent communities. What they went through to move forward is to set aside personal affairs and help each other. We have to respect Mother Earth and her moods. …..and at this point of time, she is pissed!

[@KingNeutral1]

I’d love to buy one of these. Any going for under $1.4 mil?

[@StevenTorrey]

You do see them and I wonder how many have actually survived?

[@maxvaun]

" They didn't think about what they couldn't do .... they thought about what they needed to do ..... " And that there, is the embodiment of our modern day dilemmas. We have made it nearly impossible to get anything done - anything ! Too many rules, too many nonsensical regulations, out of control political pandering to special interest groups, "pay to play", so on and so on and on and on the bs goes. In the old days, when a problem arose , they accessed the situation, went to work on it, and got things DONE ! That way of thinking is a relic of the past nowadays. Reminds me of a commercial from the nineties. There was a group of people huddled together on a busy sidewalk, staring down at the ground. A stranger walks up to see what was going on, and he noticed everyone was staring at a single piece of trash on the sidewalk ! The man looks at everybody in absolute bewilderment, he looks at the piece of trash on the sidewalk, he bends down, he picks up the trash, and he places it into a trash can that was just a couple of feet away, without saying a word, turns and continues on his walk up the street. The huddled group of people watched this , then looked at each other in amazement 😯, shrugged their shoulders, then , proceeded to go about their merry way. This is a perfect picture of how things are now, in this modern era that we live in. Frigging sad ! 😔

[@undiscloseduser2004]

same as we do know for many homeless however because of the "Red-Tape" these days, it makes it impossible; we could easily house more people, California has so many resources.