Why Shipping Container homeless shelters FAIL

How many times have you heard this argument “There are thousands of unused shipping containers lying around the world. You can solve homelessness and housing crises if you convert them into homes.”
Chapters
0:00 Homeless shelters in UK
2:39 Psychological issues
5:15 Modular units advantages
5:57 Le Corbusier
7:23 Pruitt-Igoe
8:12 Hurricane Katrina
9:07 Common thread
10:50 Better approach
Housing organizations in England and Wales have embraced this idea. They assemble prefabricated modular units made of shipping containers to provide emergency, short-term subsidized accommodation to displaced, low-income families and individuals. QED Sustainable Urban Developments, the company behind many of these temporary shipping container housing projects have designed them to be a kit of parts.
Anne Longfield, the Children's Commissioner for England has long spoken about the negative effects living in a shipping container has on children. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) says that shipping containers cannot readily be adapted to provide the spatial or environmental requirements for living. Re-use of containers can result in sub-standard, cramped, unhealthy spaces which overheat in the summer and freeze in the winter.
Modular units obviously have a lot of advantages like ease of construction, lower costs and flexibility. They might be the right path to take when building shelters, but why do they have to be shipping containers? It also is estimated that a recycled steel shipping container can produce enough metal studs to build 14 framed houses of the same size as the original container.
Le Corbusier came up with his ideal city containing prefabricated and identical high-density concrete skyscrapers allowing the city to function as a “living machine”. Unite d’habitation in Marseille, France was his first mass housing project. Pruitt-Igoe housing projects in St. Louis, Missouri. The complex was opened in 1956 and soon became a hub for poverty, crime and racial segregation. All 33 buildings were demolished with explosives in the mid 1970s. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the lower ninth ward in 2005 starchitects like Frank Gehry came in with funky, over-ambitious designs, threw up cheaply made homes and slapped solar panels on them. Soon after, the tenants noticed mold growing inside their homes, rotting wood, sloped floors, leaky roofs, collapsing walls, electrical and plumbing issues.
So, let’s find a common thread among all these social housing projects. In every case, an architect, designer, city planner or engineer has approached the problem with arrogance. They think that they know what the homeless need and they want to impose their theoretical master plans on people. They are designing for an imaginary client not for the everyday civilian.
So, what’s the solution? Well, for starters, we need to get rid of the arrogant and over-ambitious idea that design principles can change the world. We need to approach the problem of homelessness and social housing with more humility. And most importantly, we must remember that inevitable value engineering is going to destroy any atypical social housing project. You’re going to end up with a cheap product that’s a shadow of your original intention. That’s what led to the failure of Unite d’habitation, Pruitt-Igoe, the New Orleans homes, and probably the shipping container homes.
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SOURCES:
• Inside California’s Ho... - NBC NEWS
• Coronavirus: How homel... - SKY NEWS
• Container - Beating th... - VERDICT
• 'Coming here is mental... - SKY NEWS
• Video - AADSTTT
• Le Corbusier: why he i... - SWI swissinfo.ch - English
• KMOX News Report, Prui... - Missouri Historical Society
www.buildwithr...
www.theguardia...
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#shipppingcontainer #containerhomes #homelessness #housingcrisis #architecturefails

[@kaml284]

Solving homelessness requires personal relationships and a LOT of patience. I've watched my dad help several homeless people get their life together and stable. there's no big solution, it just takes a lot of people willing to take time for one on one interactions to slowly help with financial and mental issues. Trying to help everyone is the fastest way to help no one.

[@Frulara]

Exactly this

[@Thrifty032781]

I mean, there is a pretty easy, big solution. But last time I proposed it, people called it an atrocity.

[@arturwittensoeltner8729]

@@Thrifty032781 Because with high probability your big solution ended with "HAIL HITLER", right!

[@ts-wo6pp]

@@Thrifty032781 you're not funny

[@backwardsbandit8094]

Actually if you look at Finland, homelessness is very much a solvable issue. You have to provide them permanent, unconditional housing that will not be threatened by their unstable mental health. The comfort of knowing that they will not lose everything if they fail immediately does wonders for their recovery and sets them on the proper path to permanent stability. Turns out no one likes living with a flame under their ass and the stress tips some people over.

[@k13auchun]

I remember being taught Le Corbusier's "ideal city" in my architecture history class, and my professor raving about how well it was thought out and planned, and I kinda just sat there thinking, this just looks like hunger games but make it pretentious

[@miosz9007]

I lived in Berlin, where he built one of his huge appartment complexes that looks genuinely terrible. I visited the ruins of Sainte-Marie de La Tourette. Gosh, it is absolutely horrible. I have no idea how people find Le Corbusier´s buildings bearable.

[@MasterGhostf]

It *could* be good, looks like there is lots of space for trees, and parks. But, doesn't seem to be a lot of space for small businesses that make communities. Look at Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other Arab states. Look exactly like that architecture, and its boring.

[@tubester4567]

The weird thing is, cheap residential towers are being built all over the west, and in Asia, and they are upmarket and desirable. Maybe some of the poor will complain or destroy any housing that is offered. Maybe its not the housing so much as the people that need to be fixed. I dont understand why the girl in the video would complain about the decor when she is in temporary emergency housing. Its meant to be a roof over your head while you search for permanent housing. People need more affordable housing though.

[@werqzeleke2815]

@@tubester4567 she is being ungrateful and just trying her luck if she comes across as she has then she would be offered a council house it's just the trick plp use

[@screwthishi5thing]

@@miosz9007 la tourette isn't a ruin

[@bobm4623]

Force all architecture students to live in a shipping container for the duration of their course.

[@AN-sm3vj]

I know you said this in jest but it's actually a really useful idea. Knowing what a home does and feels like day to day, season to season is super valuable for design. I think for any housing project the builders should be obligated to live in the prototype two weeks out of every season before it gets implemented. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@YSLRD]

Great idea! Let's put some govt employees in there, too. And before anyone can work on the " homeless problem" , they need a month in a downtown tent.

[@MrsMika]

@@AN-sm3vj two weeks is not enough time. You can find some expensive short term solution to ride out the two weeks of discomfort that the poor would not be able to have. Dealing with mold growth probably would happen in that time either. One year in their design. They can go away for the holidays but that's it.

[@iankarma6199]

Its not like arch student dnt know what will happen. Its basic knowledge for them. They just do what they told and paid for

[@uriblaketheriddimprotege]

I believe that the different realms of science all have areas of disappointment. In the science of architecture, the shipping container home, is that disappointment

[@a.jlondon9039]

I lived in low income housing years ago and there were some wonderful people just trying to survive. And then there were the ones who treated their homes like garbage dumps. There should be some personal responsibility as well.

[@kyliewalker6647]

If the home you live in looks like a garbage dump, society perceives the occupants as human garbage

[@deaddoll1361]

@@kyliewalker6647 The sweeping generalisations and presentation of opinion as fact is what makes internet comments garbage.

[@TheFirstMadOnline]

@@deaddoll1361, ​ @Kylie Walker you realize you are both correct? Kylie was stating a well known and oft ignored fact. It is the same things as the reason you need to "make a good first impression" Kylie did NOT state that people who are forced to live in ill kempt homes are garbage. Just that society sees them that way because WE HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO DO SO!!!

[@phoebehill953]

I had to fire my last architect because he seemed to think I was giving him a blank check for his personal vanity project, instead of designing a house suited to ME.

[@sn5301679]

What kind of home he design? You didnt put some specific request to constrain him?

[@wuffos]

Too often the case.

[@wahahabuh]

Yeah I had a similar experience with an architect who is an acquaintance. I cancelled the project before I lost any real money. Although I did lose a relatively small amount ($1 - 2k) for things like surveyors etc that I had to do in advance. He did ask me why and I basically said the same thing in that if he's trying to build his vision he can use his own money. I'm saving my money for a build that is suitable for me.

[@lowrads3653]

The only effective reuse of shipping containers I've seen is on farms and construction sites. The workers will put a makeshift roof across two or more of them, thus giving themselves somewhere to safely store tools and work in the shade.

[@iAmTheSquidThing]

I can think of one successful use of shipping container architecture. Boxpark in the UK. The containers are rented by street-food vendors, and then there's a central eating area with a roof. They're just the right size for a small kitchen and a counter. But they're completely the wrong size for an insulated home.

[@backwardsbandit8094]

We made a shipping container outdoor mall in the Christchurch city centre after the 2011 earthquake in New Zealand. The containers are stacked next to each other rather than on top of each other. It's not a big mall by any means but it has small cafes and small local businesses set up. It's a nice place to get a coffee when the sun is out. It's relatively successful and helped build the morale of the city when it was at its lowest. Its still there today and it's a neat little tourist spot.

[@buffawolf62]

For the farms it might poison the soil.

[@Skyfire_The_Goth]

@@buffawolf62 Uhhh what? Do you think they plop the containers down in the crop fields? They use them close by other buildings to use for various storage purposes, place two of them how ever many feet apart they want and build a roof to have a covered work area, or make two stacks that are two high and however many feet apart they want, build a roof and have a vehicle shed, tractors just need to have rain, snow, hail, etc. kept off them to keep them in good order.

[@buffawolf62]

@@Skyfire_The_Goth well I suppose there is always going to be proxy contamination. not really concerning though and would happen another way anyways. it's just that shipping containers are especially toxic although you are right that they would be far away anyways.

[@patriciaanndemello4652]

I live in Hawaii and we have a great homeless village made of shipping containers. They have AC and gardens surrounding the neighborhood. You can have pets. They look really nice and people can stay there until they are placed in Permanant housing. The only issue is that our state can't have enough of them due to expensive land values. You have to look at the alternative which is living on the dangerous streets and being exposed to being sexually assaulted, kidnapped or exposed to drug addiction. The ideal is permanent safe and clean housing. If you live in state housing, that housing needs to be maintained.

[@xiaoka]

The weather in Hawaii is better for container living then the UK for sure…

[@mxbadboy263]

But are living productive lives or are they housed homeless people? People in shipping container zoo?

[@orchdork775]

I think it's just that there are better, more affordable, and safer options that would work better for the proposed use.

[@TheFirstMadOnline]

@@orchdork775 there are ... MANY ... but they require effort to implement as opposed to premade metal boxes you cut holes in and add plumbing and furniture to ...

[@Muljinn]

In the machinery world, we have a saying, and it seems to hold true everywhere: You can have good, fast and cheap; pick two.

[@mybigyear]

Oh my goodness that is clever

[@pablopereyra7126]

What if I eat grass? It's free, I can eat it in 2 seconds, and if it's good for cows, it's good for me. Start eating grass today, and watch how all your problems go away! Eating grass fixed my marriage!

[@goncalodias6402]

@@pablopereyra7126 good for cows means its good for you?

[@nimerbushnaq7850]

i want good and cheap xD

[@TheFirstMadOnline]

Actually that started LONG before we ever had machines .. every form of "engineer" type profession throught human history has been aware of that. Only recently has "cheap" and "fast" become the PRIMARY choice of MOST humans.

[@snowflakemelter1172]

I was homeless and I would have been glad of such accommodation as every other option is worse. No government social housing is going to give you a cottage in the Cotswolds for nothing.

[@Bustermachine]

While totally true and even as a bleeding heart liberal I agree . . . The biggest issue is simply the myth that shipping contains are good for construction at all. They aren't typically nearly as economical as people claim. There are a ton of problems with turning them into housing. And all but the most callous people should agree, housing for the homeless should not be so bad that it literally poisons them and contributes to further damaging their health, frequently a reason why they are homeless in the first place.

[@ZacharyBittner]

Yeah, I kinda agree. Like, I get that you want a “sitting room” but I’m sorry to say, that’s kinda a luxury that a lot of working people don’t have in efficiency apartments, and why do you exactly deserve more then those who do work and receive no subsidized rents?

[@snowflakemelter1172]

@@Bustermachine there's nothing inherently wrong with shipping g container builds.

[@lukaojala4384]

I disagree with Le Corbusier's approach to building because it was implemented in extreme social and economic experiments, potentially leading to the rapid creation of ghettos. Even in an ideal place like Hobbiton, gathering people with low income, education, and limited prospects for growth could result in a messy environment...

[@gagabyte5808]

Influencers: "Let's think of ways to use all these UNUSED shipping containers!" 2021 Supply Chain: "Hold my beer"

[@Hiphop618]

Let’s go Brandon!

[@Dubs22005]

well, that's more of a transportation issue not a lack of containers

[@mariusvanc]

There is no shortage of shipping containers.

[@HesderOleh]

@@mariusvanc There is a shortage of containers being where people want them.

[@Mira_linn]

thx you amarican trade deficit. making sure all the shipping containers go to the US and have to be shipped back to europe or china empty what no one wants to...

[@idma8672]

Major take: the architect doesn't know what is best for the occupants; only the occupant does. I love this channel!

[@Reach3DPrinters]

These occupants are HOMELESS!!!! Do they really know whats best when it comes to economic building design? NO. Sure, they want whats best, as we all do, but the occupant isn't going to get a $100k house that they want, and know that its best.... sheesh.

[@mrrolandlawrence]

yeh but wht listen to them. they are not $$$$ corporate "voters". We are a republic in the USA not a democracy!

[@GeorgeMonet]

I'm pretty sure that the homeless don't know what is best for themself, otherwise they wouldn't be homeless.

[@gdbalck]

The good architect designs with the quality of the space to be occupied in mind, the end user's experience. The bad architect designs with their image and browny points in mind. There's a big difference. Sadly, there are far more of the latter. Don't lump us all together.

[@override367]

@@Reach3DPrinters we could try giving the homeless homes, given how many homes are just unoccupied wealth on some Chinese businessman's balance sheet. Take our homes back from foreign investors and use them for citizens in need.

[@x_ph1l]

The other side of the problem is veeeery poor functional design of those homes. No insulation in metal box? Plumbing issues?

[@rorybellamy2533]

@@Qwerty-jy9mj Has anyone said how Ugly these are?

[@houstonhorse7877]

Why are they even thought of for long term living? They should be a stepping stone to better living conditions (no more than 2 years living there, enough time possibly for someone to get on their feet, and plan to move up to better. ) These projects should include support systems designed to get people to be self sustaining, with the explicit goal of moving them into more permanent situations. It looks like the real problem is thinking that those projects as the end solution. They are not.

[@warrendewey7556]

@@houstonhorse7877 exactly what I’m thinking. If you had perfect, free housing taxpayers/general public would be upset. A roof over your head and access to a shower and a place to keep your belongings would be a huge improvement from nothing

[@n-s-a7113]

Dats why u insulate it yourself

[@Reach3DPrinters]

@skutch Blobaum They can be waterproof, and mold shows the lack of quality construction or lazy people who don't clean up after spills, leaks or leave their wet towels in a pile against sheetrock for weeks on end.

[@rajanaga3538]

Still 100% better than living on the streets

[@thomasdolcelli4969]

My college dorms were shipping containers. I didn't even know until I lived in them for two years. They were just like any other apartments you would find. Dry wall, tiles in the bathroom, full size kitchen. They were twenty years when I moved in and they had regular maintenance. She left a lot out in explaining them. It is also how they are made. It wasn't an empty container, with a hot plate, a few chairs, and a toilet in the back. We had insulation, with heating and air-condition.

[@theraineyboys]

She did. There's always ppl hating on shit. Better than sleeping on the street.

[@Hellsong89]

Let me guess.. you live in New York and have grown accustomed to tiny "homes" or in mild weather climates where hot and cold change is not that significant. Condensation is always a issue with shipping containers and you cant do anything about it.

[@thomasdolcelli4969]

@@Hellsong89 LOL, close, however I was referring to Ramapo Collage. it was 4 units per apartment, We would get anywhere from 25 - 90 degrees. I'm not advocating for using containers for however, it is apparent she never lived in one. Proper insulation and heating and cooling it was perfectly fine.

[@VagabondTE]

I am so happy I found this channel. You happily broke my illusion for shipping container housing and you're even helping me approach my own smaller-scale recycling projects with different eyes. I absolutely love listening to your expertise. I'm not involved with architecture in the slightest but I could listen to you for hours.

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks, Tory! I appreciate the support.

[@johnconrad5487]

It seems like these "homes" are not properly insulated. There are many videos on YT of people making homesteads with shipping containers and they are very happy in them.

[@VagabondTE]

@@johnconrad5487 You must be new here

[@duketogo2616]

@@johnconrad5487- Watch the video on this channel about why shipping container houses are a scam.

[@aliaansarimohamed]

Me too. Am was thinking of build a container house. But am re thinking it

[@Tvtyrant2]

Housing isn't expensive to be honest. People managed it with a fraction of the resources we have now. The land is expensive because of location, which is something that can't be fixed. If you make homeless housing away from city centers people won't use them, or they will make the inhabitants poorer. Cheaper buildings is a red herring.

[@stoppit9]

Not to mention in many countries there are actually more empty homes than homeless people

[@Kannot2023]

So transportation and remote working will solve this. They can redistribute people over a larger area

[@llothar68]

@@Kannot2023 There can be only a few jobs which are able to do homework. And we see now that it can be terrible for the worker and the employee.

[@silverhawkscape2677]

@@Kannot2023 But Agenda 21 demands people be concentrated

[@kyleslater5245]

Almost all “socially responsible” ideas are more red herring than real solutions.

[@Lucy-fn9rj]

where i live, low income housing just looks like all other housing. you’d never know that the rows of brick townhouses with yards, or the sleek-looking new apartment building, or the duplexes circling a cul-de-sac were all built by the county. we also have programs that require new residential buildings over a certain height to set aside a proportion of the units exclusively for low income people, so if someone prefers, they can just live in a “regular” apartment building. the dedicated low income housing builds also prioritize children and families. every new build is near a park and/or school, the apartment buildings have child play areas and quiet homework rooms, everything looks nice enough that kids can invite their friends over without feeling embarrassed. it’s very nice and thoughtful

[@Muljinn]

Sounds like some of the zoning laws I heard about in Sydney back in 2011ish. According to the guide, at that time every neighbourhood was required to have a block of subsidized housing, pharmaceutical, grocery and laundry facilities, if memory serves.

[@fightingtosurvive6527]

I am tired of them prioritizing families and children when the majority of homeless people are elderly and disabled and don't have kids to help them stop discriminating against disabled and seniors that is why there's so many of them that are homeless

[@TheFirstMadOnline]

@@fightingtosurvive6527 Easy there ... As a senior who is disabled and has finally resorted to govt "assistance" for income I'm terrified of being back on the streets as I had literally spent my developing years as a homeless person. In the 70's and 80's being homeless in canada was akin to having an infectious disease and was treated like leprosy. We had no choice except to be semi transient as the local cops/pigs would always randomly grab homeless people who had been in-city for awhile to beat and/or rape. Given the choice, even with the fact I won't survive long if I become homeless again, I say give the children the first chance BECAUSE they won't have to live the way I did in a society that is even less forgiving now.

[@wearemilesfromnowhere4630]

Excellent insights here. Thank you. I spent quite a bit of time with the people of the Navajo nation in Arizona learning about the Hogan and the traditional social structure of the families that still occupy them. One image that still stands out in my mind was a neighborhood that was put in place by the US government. There were dozens of brand new single wide mobile homes with all of the amenities. The Navajo families were moved in. Shortly afterward when the propane fuel was done and winter set in, the families by and large moved out back to where they were. The mobiles were used to house their livestock, which is when I came upon them. The entire idea was rejected and viewed as an eyesore. I love this subject. Thank you Belinda

[@BelindaCarr]

Was it the fact that the housing was enforced on them or because it was an unfamiliar design they were not comfortable with? Would they have bought their own mobile homes if they could?

[@wearemilesfromnowhere4630]

@@BelindaCarr The few I spoke with simply scoffed at the whole idea. Cultural infringement for sure was part of it. Mind you, I was working with the part of the tribe that was leaning toward a more traditional direction. Hogans are pretty awesome the way they incorporate multigenerational coexistence.

[@erikkovacs3097]

What was it that Reagan said should scare you to death? When someone shows up and says “We’re from the government. We’re here to help.”

[@MiroBG359]

@@erikkovacs3097 indeed it was Reagan who said it

[@freethebirds3578]

NHA developments were a good idea in DC, but impractical on the rez. I saw an abandoned, derelict development of stucco houses with no windows near Shiprock. What I heard while living in the area was that much of the money went into the pockets of the reservation politicians and their cronies in the construction business. Driving around the reservation, you see many houses or compounds out in the middle of no where, far away from any other neighbors. I don't believe Navajos are comfortable with living closely with others, and I doubt the government would allow things like family and clan dictate who lives where in a NHA development.

[@albee8165]

I'm afraid I disagree. Having been homeless, I wanted a home of my own no matter what it was. I would have been happy with a shed.

[@alexamderhamiltom5238]

@@nah1557 yes, still better than nothing. i think homeless people need 3 basic things. house, job and hygiene. if this temporary shipping container come with job to sustain the tenants it will be great ! just an entry level jobs no need to be fancy. it regain our sense of "i am human too".

[@h.s.6269]

@@nah1557 It's meant as a stepping stone, not permanent living. As in a place of safety to use while you get on your feet. Gov't shouldn't coddle everyone for years if they don't want to work or spend wisely. Give them a time frame to prove they want to improve their lives, get solid jobs and get clean. The gov't shouldn't foot the bill for rent so you can afford $200 weave and monthly mani-pedis, use that to make payment for a good vehicle or a tutor for your kids. Yes, the insulation and molding need fixing asap, but the stigma of living in a poor area effects those that aren't homeless as well. Everyone can't be handed the lifestyle of living like a king for no work, let them work for it. And I was raised in very cheap poor neighborhoods. It's what gave my mom the wiggle room to get a good work history to look for better jobs and with the lower rent an ability to slowly save up. The place sucked but I'm thankful we never ended up on the streets.

[@lordkrishnastolemyheart5485]

Hell, I would've rather lived in a shed or shipping container than in a tent during a tropical storm or shelter full of tweaking meth heads in the shelter when I was homeless for over a year.

[@jujubee4249]

I mostly agree with the video, I would only add that the attacks on designers are slightly myopic. As an architect, a lot of what we do is controlled by our clients and project budgets. The idea of “value engineering” is the bane to our existence and is usually imposed onto us, which ultimately dictates the outcome (and direction) of most projects. When dealing with social housing, this issue is multiplied many times over. It’s hard enough to get for-profit housing funded with traditional building methods as it is, let alone social housing for the homeless. I hate container housing, but unwillingly and often times forced, designers and builders look elsewhere for more economical solutions. And lastly, designers are addressing a symptom of a much greater issue that is beyond our immediate control, and addressing the causations for such conditions is where you (everyone) should be aiming your disdain.

[@jerrymoostache7821]

This shipping container home series is the funniest thing on youtube.

[@runtochrist1975]

They can work for an outside structure, but it requires the same considerations as a wood frame for proper insulation and heating/air conditioning requirements for a small space. It isn't a good option, if you are looking to scale back cost and in most cases, it can be more expensive for building the inside properly.

[@chopyahchoice2987]

Lol this lady doesn't like this idea at all

[@Reach3DPrinters]

@@runtochrist1975 Tornado proof!

[@berserkasaurusrex4233]

@@Reach3DPrinters Maybe if you bury them, otherwise a shipping container is about as "tornado proof" as a mobile home. Except mobile homes are anchored down, and containers are usually just dropped on a gravel pad.

[@Reach3DPrinters]

@@berserkasaurusrex4233 I could throw a 2x4 through the wall of a trailer home, I couldn't throw it through a shipping container, LOL And trailer homes are parked, NOT anchored down, unless you suspect they chain the axles to a concrete pad. As for a container homes, they are generally bolted to a pad when installed to code. Trailer homes do not have such a code, so it is exactly the opposite you're position.

[@1lobster]

(shakes fist and screams) damn you shipping containers!

[@BelindaCarr]

Never thought they would be one of my highlights of the year!

[@NichtNameee]

You maniacs! You blew it up!

[@yegfreethinker]

Belinda thank you for pointing out poor people need "normal" housing too. As someone who's been on disability I know what it's like to be in these crappy housing projects.

[@rosiehawtrey]

It's not the idea, it's the implementation.

[@snowflakemelter1172]

What exactly do you want from social housing? Because you're never going to get from the government anymore than the basic requirements.

[@TheFirstMadOnline]

@@snowflakemelter1172 basic requirements are HEAVEN to those who do not have access to them otherwise

[@tshirtphilosophers]

I am not normally interested in things like this. Your delivery has me hooked; well done!

[@decameter]

It's a shame, the homeless need and deserve the same as the rest of us. A space for them to make their own, with their belongings, family and friends. A space that welcomes them, and treats them as equal. Rather than these strapped together waste products, that tell them they're worth as much as an old cargo container. I don't see why they couldn't at least invest in a trailor park. As bad as their rep is, at least a double wide is designed for humans from the beginning and not a barely functional metal box. Or just build inexpensive apartments, subsidize the housing of the homeless in regular apartments, to allow them to live somewhere and be settled so they can go to work. Social programs should free people up to go back to school or to go to work, they shouldn't be hostile like this.

[@jackwilson8051]

I was in the real estate business and sold some homes that were originally railroad box cars from the 1930s. They made very good homes.

[@poohbear01x48]

Well you can shell out the money to do it all then. I hate to do be “that guy” - but most homeless folks are homeless because they want to be homeless. They’d rather do their drugs or be lazy and beg that truly be productive - and that’s their choice. However, it’s not my problem to subsidize their existence. Teach a man to fish, don’t just give him the fish.

[@GeorgeMonet]

I'm not sure that they all need and deserve the same as the rest of us. And the homeless aren't all people who are just down on their luck. Some really are bad eggs that need to kept away from the rest.

[@Primalxbeast]

@@GeorgeMonet The homeless people who cause the most problems are the ones who are the most visible. When a homeless person has a gym membership to stay clean, doesn't do drugs and doesn't panhandle, you don't even notice that they're homeless, so people don't realize that there are many homeless people who aren't like that. There are homeless people with full-time jobs, and there are people in homes who are junkies. Too many jobs don't pay enough for people to be able to afford rent. There needs to be more low income housing so that people don't become homeless so easily.

[@rannxerox3970]

Children deserve care, adults don't deserve anything butt the rights provided to them via the Constitution. Human compassion can provide those in need but its not something one can expect or demand.

[@cardiodream]

Legally, shipping containers can be full of health hazards and their placement are highly restricted due to zoning laws. Financially, they are depreciating assets and resell market is limited. There is no research as to how long they can last and still be habitable. Target market are for people who can WFH or own land and farm. So I see this as a fad.

[@Reach3DPrinters]

That goes for anything, not just shipping containers, but it beats living under an overpass or in your car that the bank is trying to reposes.

[@ProductBasement]

If someone is given something for free, especially if they only have it temporarily, they will mistreat it and complain about any shortcomings

[@zilesis1]

the only modular designs i know of that worked were the Khruschev's high-rises in the Soviet union. Though they were neither minimalist nor trendy. the buildings were assembled from huge concrete pannels, kind of like lego blocks, with the layout being identical in each one: 7-9 floors (in the original design at least), each floor has 3 flats: 2 2-bedroom flats and 1 1-bedroom between them. each vertical has their own entrace, i.e. you've got 9x3=27 flats per stairwell, each stairwell has an exit to the outside and the actual building is composed of several stairwells, at least 5 usually those buildings were a massive success in the union, though mainly because the government objectie was to give everyone a houme after WWII, so people didn't have to buy their flats, they were just given one once a new building was finished. now that the union is no more the flats can be bought and sold as normal. i guess my main point is that, Khruschev's housing boom has many similarities with the projects in the video, but it managed not to fail and most of those buildings, and ones that came after in the same style, are still inhabited today (in fact my parents live in one)

[@zilesis1]

​@Peter from NZ yes, those are the ones i mean. the wiki page is about the earliest models of 5 floors. Later on, buildings of 7-9 stories with elevators were designed that were built the same way, though i guess those are technically brezhnevkas (build during Brezhnev's term). tbh, the only difference is building height and the layout of flats. point is both models were built very much like lego towers from pre-made concrete blocks. it was fast and comparatively cheap. Khruschyovkas were smaller and less fancy, designed to solve the post-WWII housing crisis in the USSR. Brezhnevkas were basically a "glam" version: same specks structure-wise, but more comfortable. Both types of buildings are still standing today with people living in them

[@laurais4047]

From a lady engineer: I love your work and appreciate your analysis. You're one of my favorite channels.

[@furtim1]

May i suggest you stop thinking of yourself as a "lady engineer" and just be an "engineer"? - From a tall stranger.

[@boldrobin5709]

Speaking for myself.... I would be quite contented with a clay mud or stone structure somewhere in the country side where I can plant my heart content and breathe some fresh air. I once heard a politician said, "stop building homes for people, give them a piece of land and let them do it themselves".

[@YSLRD]

With guidance but limited regulation.

This makes me think of "Khrushchyovkas", those prefab made by Soviet Russia after the war to manage the lack of homes, the country having being destroyed by the dramatic WWII. It was a half success though since it was supposed to be temporary. They used it in a communal way (one family per room, a kitchen for several families, toilets shared with the whole floor) and it was later reformed into a system with one family per apartment. It was also structured, with shops and commodities nearby, parks and schools. Everything repeating itself again and again and again as far as the eye can see. The size of the rooms back then are and the structure of the apartments are still used now in Russia for new big buildings. It is impressive to see sometimes quite luxury homes with quite small rooms and no bedroom for the parents, those sleeping in the living room.

[@herpderp7114]

Those were made to accomodate humans, though. If anything, maybe people should build some more of those for the homeless instead of wasting time with shipping containers which are never going to work as a domicile and could just be recycled. I mean it's not exactly hard to design a modern prefab that can be built fast without having to resort to stupid ideas like reusing rusty steel boxes and then jumping through hoops trying to make them not complete torture to live inside of. I bet they aren't even using old discarded containers. I'd actually be real surprised if they weren't using brand new production.

[@SuWoopSparrow]

Yet, that style of home is still standing all over Eastern Europe. They may look dingy and drab from the outside, but inside they are quite comfortable with quality materials. The one Ive lived in has been better than all of the American apartments Ive lived in that charge 1500+ a month and are labeled "luxury" because they have a gas stovetop.

Yes, the advantage of those buildings is that they can be build fast and cheap (even with an elevator and other commodities), especially since the building is always the same so once you got the idea, you know what you are doing when building it.

[@marijanashum3671]

Wrong, war didn't had this impact to "Khrushchyovkas", Stahlin died only in 1953(!) and building plans for the masses existed even before WW2. It was main political course to move people from villages to the towns since Lenin, lands and industrial structures must been reorganized from private ownership to common on the background after the FIRST World War and the country's lag in all areas, existing cities were being redrawn, new were founded in previously unused resource zones and "great construction sites" opened (Gulag existed since 30th mainly for this purpose, social terror as bonus), production capacities and ideology were needed. And all of this were according to planning economy must been change features of the towns and cities as well as structure of society. Back to Khrushchyov and his era buildings. Before him domain style was "Stahlin' Empire" which totalitarian architecture alike in Nazi' Germany, point of which to provide visual domination of ideology and pressure to "little" citizen by it's sizes and decoration. This kind of buildings are not cheap and fast to make, it's wasn't compare to Khrushchyov ideas of "palace for everyone". Not to mention, he was truly in his core the man of land and believed in "miracle " solutions for any problem: during his reign , there were plans to sow the country with corn to feed people (worked only on the very South of USSR) and Sosnowsky's hogweed for animals(invasive far not so edible plant, disturbing environments, now spreaded everywhere). Bauhaus school and it's approach to creating living space (they moved to USSR when started get pressure in Germany for incongruity design ideals), which cheaper, easy to land and modern was perfect solution to him. Like for Le Corbusier, idea of "living block" that can stuck one to another and create complex for any number of people seems great to Khrushchyov, but he eventually wasn't care about esthetics at all. That's why most of ex-USSR looks like this, not because of WW2. Analyse on Khrushchyov motives is not made by me, but his great-granddaughter and Professor of International Affairs Nina kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJK8lGlonLOfiqc

@@marijanashum3671 You essentially say the same thing I say. The WW2 part is related to the process of prefab and fast building, not the fact that there were tall buildings in cities.

[@geessaess1707]

Well, your alternative is not an 80m2 flat. It is a card box on the street. I'd stay inside a metal container personally. But that's just me.

[@mrskye08]

agree about the temperature changes, but size-wise tbh humans cannot be too choosy. in other countries, people had to rent thousands of dollars per month for a unit that only bed can fit.

[@Scepticalasfuk]

So because people somewhere else are treated like shit, we should do the same here?

[@mrskye08]

@@Scepticalasfuk let's just say instead of demanding for more, people should be a little more grateful for every blessing they receive.

[@jeffwrightslc]

WOW This was a huge eye opener! I had no idea this bad idea had been recycled so many times. THANKS for a great video

[@Reach3DPrinters]

Effecient living spaces, although not pretty or cozy, are better than living under an overpass, no?

[@LadyScaper]

@@Reach3DPrinters have you done it? Humans do need open spaces and dignity. Being put in a box not made for living…clearly is not better then an overpass. All the designers seem to miss all humans need dignity whether we like it or not.

[@Reach3DPrinters]

@@LadyScaper I lived in a walk in closet for a year. Lived in my car for almost a month. Yes, Ive been homeless with essentially no money, grabbing ketchup packets and mayo from gas stations, picking through outdoor ashtrays to re-roll my own cigarettes. Dignity is not clearly defined as its relative to expectations. In a 3rd world country, a furnished cargo container would be a castle in some villages. In Beverly hills, its a trash bin. I didn't feel undignified living in my car, if anything, I felt stronger for remaining self sufficient enough to make it work.

[@jeremywithacamera235]

State your case without anger (check), ignorance (check), profanity (check), or rudeness (check). I appreciate your passion and ability to communicate clearly. We need more of that.

[@epicuritus9761]

I completely agree that the homeless problem is approached from the top down instead of the bottom up. I interact with people at the homeless shelter in my city on a monthly basis and they want exactly what Belinda says - a reasonable shelter that actually works. There are a lot of social problems that go beyond housing - that's outside of the scope of this video. Thank you for your analysis of disparate types of housing in a coordinated way.

[@epicuritus9761]

Also, I really liked the breakdown of how many metal studs could be produced from recycling shipping containers. That was an AWESOME demonstration of how inefficient some of these methods are.

[@BelindaCarr]

Thank you!

[@lightmechanic2370]

Isn't something better than nothing?

[@michaelacheampong2869]

@@BelindaCarr U just open my eyes

[@Reach3DPrinters]

@@lightmechanic2370 EXACTLY! No solution is offered except to listen to homeless people. Thats not a freakin solution!

[@NuMooX]

The reason these projects all failed, is because the people living in them do not change- for a number of reasons.

[@BryanTorok]

Absolutely.

[@atom_gray]

too bad we can't build shelters out of entitlement... 🙄 it's certainly abundant enough.

[@GoldenTV3]

You can't blame the dude he was legit just trying to help. He couldn'tve of predicted the effects of his idea.

[@JB-is4ej]

Always a balanced, well-researched, educational, and thought provoking video. Thank you.

[@Reach3DPrinters]

except she offers no solution except to listen to the occupants... whom will always want a better place to live, I mean, who doesn't want more room and less moisture under their house?

[@Dave--FkTheDeepstate]

Thanks for the vid. 7:19 Housing projects were a failure. iirc, everyone (politicians, etc) got their photo op when the major HUD housing 'projects' were built. But the funding for maintenance, security, etc, after the fact, were horribly low. Which lead to a vicious cycle of problems and crime.

[@backintimealwyn5736]

oh my, we're architectural soul mates. I share 100% your analysis ont this incredibly "bourgeois" way of deciding what poor people don't need. (color, beauty, quality, ornements, individuality, soul,being able to apporpriate the space...freedom) , it's a profundly anti-humanist take. People everywhere have built their own little houses, trying to make them look pretty and comfortable, they look different everywhere, they have always represented what saied people found beautiful, the taste of a culture, this is hulmanity and we've been trying to anihilate it again and again. Stocking people into shipment containers is a new low, a symbolic milestone.

[@jacobwcrosby]

I fundamentally disagree with this. You seem to have the attitude that people had I'll intentions when setting out upon this course... Like, "Let's take away everything that makes a human a human, like color, and individuality, and the ability to decore the INSIDE of their abode, or to buy their own shit to fill it with... Cause that'll teach em!" What the hell? Don't get me wrong, I fucking hate people. People are stupid as shit, arrogant, wilfully ignorant, stubborn assholes... But nobody ever set out to help the poor and less fortunate thinking, "Let's build a big ass cage! Let's take their humanity away, maybe they will stop procreating..." Seriously, what misery must you have grown up in? I grew up in the Mojave desert, my bus stop was EXACTLY a one mile walk, unless I wanted to save about 1/5th of a mile and chance it with the snakes... I had cancer. No electricity. No heat. No hot water. No AC. Stale bread to eat nearly every day, well, on school days I was sent to the cafeteria every morning and given a milk and a peanut butter sandwich... If I made it to school, difficult to wake up on time with an alcoholic mom and no alarm clock, phone or electricity. When I was 8 I had to stab a literal Marine because he was drunk and beating the shit out of my mother and my sister... I genuinely hoped that I killed him, and I was disappointed when the police told me he would survive. Even I have more faith in humanity than you, so what hell did you live through?

[@famousbowl9926]

Lmao this foo just say she's his soul mate? Tfff

[@backintimealwyn5736]

@@jacobwcrosby I think you misread my comment .. Take your ADD medication, read again, focus on every word.

[@yltraviole]

@@jacobwcrosby Dude, what about this comment pissed you off so much that you just had to tell your whole damn life story? Be honest. Did you design a shipping container housing project?

[@wendyc.beecher3336]

@@jacobwcrosby look this isn't a contest to see who lived the worst life. Many people suffer hardships and trauma. All are valid. Not everyone responds the same. Someone will always have a worse story. That doesn't mean yours isn't horrible too. You show a toxic lack of empathy and humanity when you judge and belittle others. Golden rule. Wanting others to suffer because you suffered is not normal

[@ken9720]

It is amazing how everyone makes all these comments about how living like this is bad. YET, not one of them consider that Mobile homes are literally the definition of shipping container housing. I grew up in mobile homes. The largest of which was 14'x72'. I personally don't see much difference between mobile homes and shipping containers beyond the fact that shipping containers are NOT originally built to be used as a home. Mobile homes get hot and cold according to the weather outside. No amount of AC or Heating changes that fact. How about everyone that is making comments about living like this actually try it out for 5 years, including the limited income that comes along with it. I doubt that 90% of the people commenting have ever had to live at this level with NO hope to fix or augment their situation when necessary. No better than the government making decisions for people without having the experience necessary to fully understand. If you properly insulate and reinforce the walls I doubt a shipping container is any worse than a mobile home. There is also a major lack of intelligence within architecture about BUILDING for the climate. If you live in an arctic climate then BUILD accordingly. Same if it's for a tropical climate. Simple things evade the 'overly educated and sheltered' architect. Kudos to the channel owner for only giving one side of the story! Again, it's a shelter NOT a permanent place to live. Problem is that people move in and become complacent about what THEY need to do to improve their lives. Don't like the shelter than use it as the spring board it is meant to be not as a permanent fix to your issue.

[@TheBooban]

The difference between mobile homes and shipping containers is just enough to be essential. Trying to adapt a container is not worth it. Better to start from the beginning designing it for a home like mobile homes are meant to be. Even better...build a proper apartment building.

[@rajanaga3538]

Mobile homes are toxic most are treated with formaldehyde If you buy a new one off the lot it comes with a warning ⚠️ One of the the warnings are to not let small children crawl on the floor

[@LdyVder]

Mobile homes of today are made by the same companies that make modular homes. The difference between them is one is on a slab foundation, the other on wheels. They are not your parents mobile home.

[@rajanaga3538]

@@LdyVder you are wrong I have a modular home on one of my rental lots and there’s no slab It’s a newer model only been on the lot for five years

[@whiteknightcat]

This is my conclusion - shipping containers were designed to be standardized and portable, specifically multi-modally transportable. They were never designed to be permanent stationary objects. So how can they best be used to house people? Here's an idea I'm envisioning ... have FEMA buy up a bunch of old, excess containers and get them properly fitted out for temporary habitation. Utility connections would be via "quick-connect" type connections of some sort. Then, store them somewhere, like in the desert or something, in the same manner as the old planes at the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB. Thousands could be stored, stacked 10 or more high. Now, let's say another disaster strikes, like a Category 5 hurricane, or massive flooding, or huge earthquake, or what have you. FEMA then goes into action, determines with local governments that a large number of evacuees need to be housed, maybe for weeks or months, then the call goes out for the containers. Arrangements are made to load them on trains for long distance shipping, with trucks to transload them to designated evacuation areas. Arrangements are made with local utilities to set up bulk power and water delivery to the sites, the containers are unloaded and set up, and portable utility connections are set up tying the bulk delivery points to a network of connections in the shelter area. Transport the evacuees to the sites and there you go, something a little more sturdy than the notorious "FEMA trailers" from Hurricane Katrina that don't need a fleet of trucks to transport one by one. Once their TEMPORARY use is over, the utility connections are dismantled and stored away, the units decommissioned, cleaned up, buttoned up, and then shipped back to their storage location to be ready for the next disaster.

[@phantomcruizer]

Doesn’t FEMA have and utilize trailer homes as temp residences during natural disasters?

[@whiteknightcat]

@@phantomcruizer I could be wrong but I was under the impression that the trailers were mostly unique to Katrina. Problem with that is that they all have to be hauled into place and set up one by one, and can only be stored on the ground. They can't be stacked to use less ground space.

[@nunyabiznes33]

That could work. America is large anyway so most cities could probably have a place for these.

[@rosiehawtrey]

@@whiteknightcat make them out of containers and you can store them multi level - all you need to do then is build flatbed trailers with locking pins and store both until you need them. They'd be bloody useful for tornadoes too. But I'd suggest putting solar panels on the roof of each and a modular battery to 240/120v system - less gubbins to link up.

[@LadyScaper]

Thank you so much for this video. I feel most people who have never been poor or homeless don’t understand that poor and homeless need exactly what everyone else needs. Colour, garden spaces and proper building construction. These are needs not wants. To think keeping people in concrete boxes is a good idea…I feel the architect has never known true poverty.

[@91Vault]

judging by the comments people seem to think if your poor/homeless you don't deserve basic dignity and not only should you be happy for anything above a concrete sidewalk but THANKFUL...like is that really the standard we want for other people? its such a zero sum neo-lib capitalist mindset.

[@HolzMichel]

hi Belinda, with respect, i disagree with some of your assertions in your video as there is a much deeper underpinning at work with "social housing" the world over. the subconscious mindset that the "it doesn't belong to me, so why should i care for it?" -attitude sets in and the whole thing goes to hell in a hand basket. living in a converted shipping container fundamentally isn't all that much different than living in a "conventional" house. there are some adaptations the occupant has to incorporate into their daily routine, and once that has been done the container houses are just as comfy as any regular ones. in other larger cities the world over, any social housing projects are often derelict within a few short years of initial occupation due to the lack of maintenance by the occupants or the public trust that is charged with the oversight of maintenance. on the other hand, there are improvements in the conversion process from shipping container to dwelling, most critically: insulation and ventilation. shipping containers are constructed for use on the high seas and to keep sea water etc out, essentially being hermetically sealed. they cannot and do not "breathe" like a conventional house. some new conventional houses that are sealed to minimize energy loss have the same mildew and moisture problems as converted shipping containers. so comparing a container dwelling to an older conventional one is sort of comparing apples to oranges

[@markmatt9174]

I was going to say something similar. Looking at ALL of the great building plans for the (free housing community) have exactly the same problems. The residents who always want something better because they have an inherent sense of entitlement that they should also be given a Mcmansion like the urban homeowners have. As such they refused to care for whats been handed out dor decades. All of it quickly becomes an eyesore first with trash, graffiti and broken windows. Then junk builds up crime, drugs & prostitution further degrades the area. Totally just 1 thing in common from Soviet era block homes, 60s era US Government housing to the latest container complexes, the inhabitants. Recycling the containers into steel studs is completely missing the point of quick and cheap, the recycled materials wouldn't be cared for no better than the container. It would add millions $ to the prices take years longer with 100% same results.

[@KaceyGreen]

yes great point, they don't need to be containers, a purpose built home made for stacking or fast construction would be better no need to try and shoehorn them into shipping containers

[@KaceyGreen]

yes they need to consult the people that are to be living in these solutions

[@DezzarTac]

​@@KaceyGreen You can edit an existing comment you have made by hovering the cursor over the right-side edge of your comment and clicking the three-dot menu button. Edit: Replying to yourself looks silly.

[@KaceyGreen]

@@DezzarTac yes I'm aware you can edit comments thank you. For creators I interact with regularly I will either make a serial chain of comments as I watch or I'll make a big comment with timestamps, it depends on if I'm on mobile, PC, web, TV, or Tesla, several of those have substandard comment interfaces.

[@BelindaCarr]

@@KaceyGreen I always appreciate your support! There's nothing wrong or silly with multiple comments.

[@KaceyGreen]

@@BelindaCarr thank you 😊, keep up the good work! Iiked how the problems they had with the structures were ones you warned about earlier in the series, ventilation, insulation, HVAC, mold, etc.

[@spik330]

Debunking issues: * Sure their is a psychological effect with living is such a small space, but at least they have a space to live. (On a side note a shipping container square footage is 320sq which is about the same size most under 30 year old's can afford to live in in any major city in the world. No one is going to go for giving the homeless a bigger place that most people for free.) * The idea of that the amount of metal in a shipping container can build 14 framed houses can be misleading as that doesn't include the cost of recycling that container into that metal. Moreover if you are building framed houses I suspect you are used wood as the other material which is not as rigid and can add complexity to the shipping part of the shippable housing, and could impact the stackability of the housing as you now need to insert structural supports (which already exist in shipping containers). I will admit to you Modular Homes are not meant as permanent housing. They are there to provide shelter and to be quick, cheep , and mobile.

[@briannorris1548]

The only part of a container that is structural is the corners. By the time you wire plumb frame and insulate a sea can you bring the hight and width down by 6 to 10 inche,. Making them cramped square footage isn't the only concern. Building a sea can specifically for housing that is taller is categorically wasteful.

[@killerbee.13]

The amount of metal comparison is only misleading if you're assuming that the shipping containers already existed, but the fact is that these constructions are being built out of custom-ordered new shipping containers or out of shipping containers that are being removed from use long before their normal lifetime is done with, rather than those disused ones that have potentially been used to transport toxic materials (which there is no way to determine if they have). The metal doesn't have to be recycled into 14 other homes, instead, the metal can just be cast into those members directly instead of being cast into the corrugated sheets used in shipping containers, which then must be cut into on-site anyway.

[@GyprockGypsy]

The vast majority of smaller living spaces these days are framed using steel studs. Only low-rise residential building use stick framing these days, as steel is lighter, more durable pound for pound, and vast more functional for the actual act of framing as it, unlike wood, has been specifically engineered with strength and ease of use in mind. I don't know where you got the idea that wood is more rigid that steel, but that is categorically false. A 2x4 might be more rigid than a 25g stud, but that's just an issue with material thickness, and to be honest, I'm impressed by the amount of integrity provided by 0.6 MM of folded up galvanized steel, compared to 2" (50 MM) of wood. Steel stud can also be purchased in thickness anywhere from infill (25g/0.6mm), rigid (20g/1mm), or outright structural (14g/2mm) that al conform to any desired shape or function, unlike wood. It also takes up vastly less space and weight, making it cheaper and more efficient to store and transport than wood.

[@danieldehaan5374]

At what point is it the tenant's responsibility to take advantage of having a clean, dry shelter with cooking and bathing facilities to rise above their situation? Why on earth should we build dream homes for someone who's only other choice is a tent near the highway? It shouldn't be as comfortable as a regular home, it's just meant to be a safe, clean shelter. The incentive to live in a place that suits us as a home is what drives people (in part) to work and pay for it. It should be transition housing to getting that person to a better place in their life and within our society. The reason society wants them in "housing" is to get them off the street along with their needles, liquor bottles, great quantities of imported trash, stolen items and human waste. The problem is, all of those things follow the "formerly homeless" to their new "homes". So there are two needs to be met here, not wants, but needs. The city needs clean, attractive, safe streets and neighborhoods where children, visitors and the hardworking, law abiding citizens can thrive. And the homeless need, well, help with everything. All that being said, it's no place for children. I can't imagine any city has adopted shipping container shelters as their only housing option. Families with children should be given priority for actual housing, a home. As should physically disabled, elderly and veterans. Lastly, I'm certain I could design a properly ventilated (to avoid condensate, mold and rot), properly insulated, radiant heated, chilled water cooled, unit with kitchen and bath, with engineering certification a courtyard for about $25k. Lastly, in my experience, the hierarchy of homeless choices are tent, car, camper, RV, hotel room. How are these free shelters so terribly different from the top of that tier, the hotel room? Except you usually don't get a kitchenette or more than one window, and I think you have less square footage in a budget hotel room. Both have outdoor walk ways and stairs, small quarters, big deal. Sorry, rant over.

[@SuWoopSparrow]

I agree that people generally put responsibility onto others more than they ought to (homeless or not), but I think you are missing a little bit of the point. This housing still costs money and uses materials. It does so wastefully and inefficiently. If people are going to "tackle homelessness" by building homes, they should at least do it right. There are options far more comfortable and useful at the same price point as these shipping container homes. The problem is that these architects/project leads/whoever are not actually caring about the problem. They are doing trendy work for social points. On the more frustrating end, they are doing it to excessively profit. I've seen projects where the contractors in conjunction with local government have bamboozled contracts to build on the most expensive land incredibly expensive units, ending up at a cost of 500k+ per unit. Most of these initiatives dont /actually/ care to solve the problem, but to profit, appear righteous, or both.

[@lettah4210]

I would just say open up your imagination a bit. There's more that can be done than just giving a homeless person the absolute bare minimum, if that, because some people think they don't deserve some dignity too. A lot of homeless people are terribly mentally ill and in a better system would be under a conservatorship of a responsible guardian or state. These people literally cannot better themselves without help because their concept of better is outside of our reality.

[@scientious]

I liked the recent, 70 story housing structure in Singapore consisting of 5 separate buildings connected by open platforms at the 35th floor and roof levels. Those do indeed increase the green space, outdoor and recreational areas of the lot. It was actually better than the two, 10 story buildings they replaced even though it holds several times more people. That was a good design. Too many architects seem to view buildings as egg crates for stacking people inside. This is equally true in the cubicle structure of open-plan offices.

[@56independent42]

And i assume a Library has 1000 stories. Please use "Storey" when referring to floors.

[@scientious]

@@56independent42 You must be British. It's 'story' in the US.

[@56independent42]

@@scientious Oh god I'm so sorry. Here I was in my ivory tower, thinking British English was the only way to spell it. I need to rethink my life choices.

[@scientious]

@@56independent42 colour vs color, assurance vs insurance, bonnet vs hood, holiday vs vacation, redundant vs unemployed -- there are lots of these. Surely you already knew that.

[@56independent42]

@@scientious I knew a lot of these and i thought i was safe in my ivory tower, but i was wrong, and i am sorry.

[@override367]

I'm REALLY glad you talked about the brutalist concrete social housing, unfortunately every American I know thinks "housing project" or "social housing" is code for grey Soviet box, nobody ever thinks about Austria's public housing. Every politician who has ever backed social housing backs them like it's a one time cost, and not something that must be kept up. You can make them GOOD PLACES TO LIVE that charge rent on a non-profit basis and the state can subsidize the units for the poor. This way an apartment in new york city could be $800 a month and less for the elderly/poor. They can be run EXACTLY how private apartment blocks are run, by a public corporation that doesn't keep a cent of profit. You can even hire people to work there who get to live there for a discount (managers, maintenance, etc).

[@LordSandwichII]

Brutalism in general is a scourge on modern architecture. It is arguably the worst art movement ever created.

[@Typexviiib]

Entirely Eliminating property tax on properties that meet a sensible low cost rent standard would accomplish your goals better. Property taxes in high population density areas, especially on multi residence housing, are a massive expense that is directly passed on to the end consumer in the form of higher rent.

[@noname-zp1yh]

@@LordSandwichII It is ugly but to be honest I think it could be cool given the right coditions. Brutalisim is a blank canvas and I feel like if It were given to people with the means and some system to customize it it's no more ugly than the cookie cutter suburb houses. At least brutalisim never tries to pretend to be something it isn't. A brutalist house wouldn't sell you on the idea of luxury and then give you cheap garbage for the sake of aesthetics. I prefer brutalist, cheap, and internally liveable vs middle class looking, expensive, and garbage.

[@zargonfuture4046]

Make palaces for the homeless... And wait for the moaning about how they are not fit to live in... Humanity will never be happy.

[@creeper8647]

I'm so glad you had this opportunity to lecture us on how far short of expectations we have fallen in our attempt to help.

[@DeathToMockingBirds]

By showing the cheap, quick, failed container homes that feel like a metal box, then showing a social housing project that was all concrete, poor design, construction and maintenance, and then talk about "involving the homeless in the construction", and then talk about your good experience of suburbia...... you manifactured an opinion of social housing projects that is completely skewed. You could have shown Vienna's social housing projects. Or Copenhagen's. Or many of the well designed, human-centered, walkable, beautiful social housing neighboorhoods that exist across the world. Suburbia is bad on so many metrics, but for a better feel why, I encourage you to look at Eco Gekko's youtube channel, or NotJustBikes. It's all about the urban planning.

[@bigbones916]

Social housing projects always suck they usually look good and are praised for 20-30 years and then found out to have been garbage all along.

[@DeathToMockingBirds]

@@bigbones916 I'm in Strasbourg, France, and I saw beautiful social housing neighboorhoods. I know of much better ones in Denmark and the Netherlands. The disaster ones gets the news, but for each of those you have a lot that are beautiful, cooperative, well maintained, well though out. It's really about applying good human-centered design principles.

[@bigbones916]

@@DeathToMockingBirds yes of course they look nice but you never had to live in them.

[@chatnoir1224]

​@@bigbones916 student dorms is not great place to live your whole life but it is OK during your student life. Same with Social housing - it is good enough during time when you are really in need of social housing. If you can't elevate yourself and buy/rent home you really want - that sucks, but nothing can be done.

[@SJ-co6nk]

In a book I wrote, I said: "They want to save the world, but they can't even save themselves." -- It's a lack of humility, just as you say. Everywhere you look, people are too focused on trying to change all of humanity forever instead of just doing a really great job at the one thing they should be good at. As a result, people end up creating things intended to form a legacy instead of to suit a purpose, and thereby they doom themselves to a legacy of failure.

[@warwickrigby6894]

Shipping containers with the inside of the walls sprayed with 50mm of polyurethane closed cell foam will solve the insulation and mold problem. There are numerous successful houses built with shipping containers. Good design is required.

[@joseornelas1718]

Name one please.

[@savethebees2506]

Then, it will become toxic.

[@danielday36]

I can sum up this entire video. Something for free is the most expensive thing of all. We try to fix things up with the cheapest shit and we end up spending a lot more money over time.

[@Skapo]

I appreciate your insight & all, but having watched a bunch of your videos now, I haven't see you talk much about success stories or solutions that function almost at all. I've seen 101 reasons that all these solutions will never work or how they are emotionally detached, but very little about how to actually address that beyond "let's get the input of the homeless" which is more of a vague feelgood statement than a solution of any sort. What practical solutions do you actually see as viable? Why? Where has their been success using those tactics? I'm all about criticism of broken systems, but I think it's important to offer realistic alternatives unless there are none to be had. Otherwise we just shoot down everything anyone ever tries and make no progress.

[@PGj141]

+1, though such a roof for homeless is not offering comfort, it still offers some "family" space that is not offered by the street living. The only "true negative" statement I've heard in the past in regards to such "buildings" is that condensed poverty per sqm leads to multiplication of social problems (drug dealing, violence, etc.) as it's a bit harder to move on (change place) when you've found some sort of roof, than to move if you're on the street. I also lack an alternative working proposal (those who hunts for money on the street will not move to suburb) from the author to perceive such critic in "neutral" manner. Generic blame of "not nice" solution doesn't cost much. No more than my comment:) and yeah, I would also like to get OKish home for free (actually for the money of those who pay taxes)

[@mattdoesflyfishing]

I would have to agree with this line of commentary. @BelindaCarr I love your content, it seems to me that you have far to few views for the quality of content produced. I think that the clip with the SKY interview was a little unrepresentative. Was that woman forced to live there? It seems to me that someone tried to help them and they are having a bit of a moan. We don't need input from the homeless, we need input from experts in housing. I don’t know, I think maybe the effectiveness of low cost housing depends on the demographic they serve. In my country, half the population lives in corrugated shacks. They are tiny and extremely dangerous to live in. A container (single) home is luxurious compared. My uneducated impression is that better problems statements for homelessness and low cost housing needs to be presented before an objective opinion can be reached.

[@Benjamin1986980]

Unfortunately, I think that her negativity is necessary to offset the undue fawning that these sorts of ideas have had in media. Take the plastic roads and solar roads fad from a few years ago. Absolute nonsense ideas, yet they were talked about as not only great ideas, but obvious, why haven't we done this already ideas. Educated people are agreeing with it simply because they don't hear the other side. I might agree with you if she was in a vacuum but she's not. You can find media fawning over shipping container homes from here to high heaven. Ms. Carr doesn't need to provide it

[@Skapo]

@@Benjamin1986980 I still disagree. She doesn't just only focus on the negative, she actively misrepresents the situation by focusing on narrow examples that aren't even substantively about the shipping containers themselves. Too hot/too cold? Not if they are well insulated. Not if they use reflective paints on added outer panels. Not if you live in a moderate environment. I live in Portland Oregon. We rarely ever get extreme weather here. It would be a much less significant issue here than in Arizona or Alasksa. These things will change regionally. Just like every form of construction in existence. Houses in TX wouldn't stand up to northern freezing (my parents found this out the hard way this last winter in their normally built house) and visa versa houses built for northern cold wouldn't always fair well always in Texas heat. Too small of a space? I've spent the last 4 years living exclusively and comfortably in a travel trailer of about 200 sq foot total. Much less if you consider the cabinets and inner buildout. But it's functionally well designed. I am totally cool with my situation. She seriously misrepresents this. Too bland? Not personal enough? Sounds again much more like poor interior design. My 200 square foot space feels homelely and enjoyable. This has nothing at all to do with shipping containers. In her other video she explains how shipping containers are not readily available or able to be shipped inland. Has she never lived inland before? I used to live in Kansas and afterwards in Montana. I have traveled all over the midwest. Shipping containers are abundant anywhere there are trains. Again, complete misrepresentation. I could keep going here, but my point is this. She doesn't fairly represent the situation and creates a victim mentality about anyone who decides to question her conclusions. She treats this in almost the same manner as fundamentalist religious apologists might about their faith. Lots of stawman comparisons, slam dunking on "opponents", and appeals to emotion to get her point across rather than deal with the criticism head on. That's what frustrates me. I actually think she makes some good points overall. I think she actually does have some good insights, but those get overshadowed by her zealous approach to anything that differs from her baseline opinion. Hope that makes sense. I'm not out here to attack her at all. Just frustrated at how tolted she approaches this situation and how little she considers other people's perspectives.

[@KingChocobo]

Nice video. I never understood the design world's fascination with container homes. If it's just the shape that they're after wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to just build that shape with wood?

[@michaelwaters6829]

Humans are trying to avoid using wood. Cuz environmentalism

[@KingChocobo]

@@michaelwaters6829 but wood is a renewable resource that is more environmentally friendly to process than steel.

[@sfchick7615]

However, shipping containers need reinforcements once you cut through the steel for windows and doors. The EXTENSIVE reinforcement is done with WOOD......lots of WOOD!! Same as you would for a traditional home. There is no environmental savings on wood.

[@rtyria]

@@michaelwaters6829 If they were sincerely concerned about the environment they would be even less likely to use metal as it is not a renewable resource. It's a fad, and perhaps the worst and unhealthiest fad I've ever seen.

[@leeluv96]

Because most of the time the shipping containers are retired. It started as a cheap way to build using recycled material. In the end, it's not cheap and it solves no environmental problems.

[@Aliciaek]

I prefer to live in a shipping container that to be homeless

[@mtb_and_more02]

Would rather sleep in a steel box than a tent on a -20c night with a stiff breeze than a tent! Have spent over 370 nights stacked three high on a steel aircraft carrier on two deployments-my bunk (which was not big enough to sit upright in) was the best place in the world every night!

[@jtr82369]

right... Its mind boggling to hear someone complain about the size of a container home when they come from living in the street. I actually think the discomfort is necessary so people are motivated to move into their own apt or home, otherwise they would just live there indefinitely.

[@mysterion4301]

Thanks for another thoughtful video. The lessons of Cabrini Greens used to be taught in both architecture and social work classes. We keep 'swinging' in new ways...and we keep 'missing' the ball. Having worked in construction and later with the homeless, I can say it's a difficult and heartbreaking effort, punctuated periodically with a success story that keeps us looking for answers.

[@SinghAaditya]

Excellent video Belinda...! This video was much more than architecture! You talked about critical social issues, and thought process required to address homelessness.

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks, Aaditya!

[@ppentertainment2351]

If shipping container housing is thought through and planned out properly, they can be a viable solution for any type of housing.

[@ablacknambercat]

No doubt but that costs, what these are perfect for is emergency accommodation and temporary shelter. The limited design makes them unsuitable for what they end up being used for, mid-term accommodation. Anything more than one month is too long in these. Now if they were upgraded to be 2 or 3 joined containers with insulation and ventilation sufficient for the climate, of course, that is just as costly as building long term social housing, without the ' container' tag. Why do shipping containers fail? they are shipping containers. Oh and the use of stacks of these in dystopian novels doesn't help.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

Why does it need to be shipping containers? It is much cheaper to build them from scratch.

[@mrmobius]

Always well reasoned, researched, and justified thesis. Shipping container homes are the penultimate example of conflating the moral nobility of an idea with the validity of the methods and ideas.

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks for watching!

[@Reach3DPrinters]

Meanwhile people freeze in the wet streets. So since containers are only a poor housing solution, we shouldn't bother at all? Perhaps if the narrator actually provided a solution, instead of suggesting we listen to homeless people to devise a more efficient method of temporary housing, im sure homelessness would be solved... or not.

[@HeadsFullOfEyeballs]

Thing is, I _don't_ believe that most people (myself included) know what they want when it comes to housing. Certainly not with sufficient clarity that they can predict which living arrangement they'll actually be happiest in long-term. Making that prediction would require not just a lot of introspection but also domain knowledge about architecture, interior design, sociology, psychology... Which isn't to say that shipping container housing is a good idea. But American-style plywood suburbs, for example, have demonstrably been a failure socially, environmentally and economically. That style of living, too, was imposed on society by government mandates and subsidies and zoning regulations, not to mention a huge propaganda campaign. It didn't arise organically out of people's innermost desires. And yet many people who grew up that way simply can't imagine anything else and balk at the idea of moving to, say, a medium-density walkable European-style neighbourhood. Even though quality of living is demonstrably better in those.

[@GeorgeMonet]

Suburbs weren't a failure. They were successful when they involved tightly knit communities related by class, race, occupation, religion, etc. Those communities are higher trust. However as people started moving around the country in pursuit of jobs and opportunities the ties which brought people together shattered. Communities made up of diverse populations are low trust communities. But those suburbs still create better social ties than in cities where I've seen people literally walking over each other.

[@MCOGroupNews]

Man, she's a smart cookie... I definitely didn't propose shipping container-esque living for one of my projects...hahaha... hahahaha...

[@Aromabruh]

Hahahaha you are not alone my friend.i thought it was a great idea.

[@wernertschan320]

I am repeating myself: You are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing your views.

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks a lot!! I really appreciate your support.

[@supervamp78]

Man I remember hearing about the asylum seekers in Britain talking about how horrible these houses wore and seeing comments calling them ungreatful People can be horrible

[@phantomcruizer]

Yes, on both sides.

[@GeorgeMonet]

Well it's true. They were being ungrateful. The whole point is that Britain was taking in people who had NOTHING and were fleeing presumably HORRIBLE conditions. THe fact that they were complaining raises a very valid question as to whether they were actually refugees (who would be grateful just to be in a safe environment) or economic migrants looking for free stuff and higher pay. The fact that the majority of the economic migrants were working age males suggests they really were just economic migrants and not refugees so Britain shouldn't have taken them in.

[@supervamp78]

@@GeorgeMonet Did you not watch the video?

[@cameronalexander359]

Great Vid. Having been accomodated in them in Australian mining camps, Shipping containers are just not a comfortable LONG-TERM space for a human.

[@sagittarius_]

You are so right! Shipping containers are designed for transport - not for living. And used with bad tech solutions (thermal insulation, moisture insulation, heating, cooling, ventilation etc), they become nightmare housing. But on the other hand, modular industrial produced housing parts and components seems to be a smart way to achieve high quality living to affordable costs for many more people than before, provided that high skill and competence is used on every level, from tech detaling up to area planning.

[@BelindaCarr]

I agree. The prefabrication of modular units in a factory, under supervision by competent builders has a lot of potential. But it's inevitable that companies are going to cut costs with those products too!

[@wclark3196]

@@BelindaCarr It's almost like the problem is capitalism...

[@jimfarmer7811]

The problem isn't the building design. The problem is the people that live in public housing. You can make the highest quality public housing and the residents will trash it in a few years. That's the true story we can learn from the history of public housing.

[@susanfrombflo8368]

I just watched a couple of videos about alternative temporary shelters (neither discussed shipping containers) and yours came through as a related suggestion. You always present such pertinent info - thank you!

[@nonamecatter]

Wonderful points made! When designing homes for people, it is important to consider the psychological comfort, wellbeing, and physical health of the inhabitants, their lifestyle needs, and the liveability of the home. What’s more, if someone is accessing accomodation due to crisis, homelessness, fleeing from abuse, etc. they are likely need comfort and support even more. Designing damp poorly insulated sardine cans modelled with similar utility and concept as prison cells (with less security) can only hamper mental health, comfort, and wellbeing. Viewing any home that they move to as a step up from living on the streets allows often for the dehumanisation of, and the degradation of standards applied to housing afforded those people. Additionally, providing choice is one way to allow for human dignity and self-determination. Providing appropriate accommodation is not just about providing four walls!

[@gertrudesuzan9253]

When they compare it to what they have now, they shouldn't say "it's better than that so this is what we'll do." They should say "better is not good enough, let's do the right thing." Nobody with the resources to actually do something to help seems to go that extra step, they just criticize the ideas that aren't good enough and leave homeless people where they are, and that's worse because then it's not "at least it's better than what they have now" it's the same, which is unacceptable, but they seem to be happy accepting it as the solution we have to go with.

[@kiwi-ow8jt]

Thats want a interior designer is for. We are basically to architects. We learn and study how to create a space for people to live happy and healthy in. But we are mostly seen just as "decorators".

[@crewmatewillthrowthesehand7600]

Belinda Carr and Adam Something taught me to avoid cars and shipping containers

[@bryanc2262]

Another thing regarding the homeless, they tend to fall in five categories, with most in the top three 1. Mentally ill 2. Substance abusers 3. Criminals, due to previous or current criminal activity getting housing is problematic 4. Chronically unemployment, or victims of economic circumstances. 5. Choice, they wish to live apart and by their own terms Public housing would only benefit one of these groups, #4. Groups 1 and 2, need medical help first, and group 3 are not trustworthy enough to use tax payer funds to assist. Lastly, groups 1, 2, 3, & 5 is unlikely to conform to the requirement for obtaining public housing.

[@ansel203]

All of these groups overlap, though. And to write off everyone who has ever committed a crime as too "untrustworthy" to help is part of the problem that breeds more crime, drug addiction, mental illness and hopelessness. Housing is a human right. To place conditions like compliance with traditional psychiatric treatment (which is hit or miss at best) on the most basic means of survival for vulnerable populations is inhumane. I think we need to separate the idea of "deserving" from access to the tools of basic survival.

[@psychotropicgrove]

It's interesting how in England there was a stage where social housing was built well and incorporated a garden with enough space for the resident to grow food for their families, often they got scattered into small villages and were well built houses, then of course came the time when people were allowed to buy their council houses and then the move to being able to sell them, now those larger well built ones are full of the more wealthy and the poor people are pushed into grotty places, often communal with a severe shortage of housing, we are told there's not enough land and even if you can manage to buy your own land you aren't really free to build what you want so it's all quite depressing

[@lifeafterdeath6709]

I live in a 4x6 Tiny House on my Truck. Im happy with it. I just need land.

[@garethbaus5471]

I could only sleep in a structure with those dimensions diagonally, how do you do it?

[@Reach3DPrinters]

@@garethbaus5471 probably vertically... just lean against a wall. :)

[@HypNoel]

I enjoyed this video. Very interesting hearing your analysis on building trends and attitudes within the architectural world. Im glad I subscribed to you. Keep up the great work!

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks, Noel!

[@cdgf-X]

Great video and insights. As a designer myself (UX/UI), our first question is who are we designing for and what are their needs... then we go talk to those people to verify and get input. Spot on!

[@rosiehawtrey]

Having seen the nightmares that pass for ui/ux these days, you must be about the only one who does.

[@MrsMika]

Cabrini Green in Chicago, IL was a failure and was torn down. Shipping containers aren't the problem, it's the fool that put people in them without insulation. There are containers that are insulated called reefers. This is easy to heat or cool in extreme climates. A 40 ft used reefer shipping container can be good TEMPORARY housing for a family of 4 if it is laid out right. These would be better than FEMA giving out RVs after natural disasters. They could be put in the yard of the destroyed home until the family could get back into their own home, then carted away to the next disaster. When your house is small you will want to be outside more often, so the resident could use their yard to get some space. If you are stacking the unit like apartment blocks then 1-2 person's max could reside there. The key with sea cans is to really limit the holes you cut into them, to keep their structural integrity. This also helps to reduce heating or cooling loss. Have just enough for emergency egress and the main door.

[@alvinblackwell268]

See the problem with your thesis in this video is that you sidestep your thesis statement. The containers don't fail, rather you highlight and expand on poor usage models and shody insulation of them. Housing Projects are notorious for creating poor quality of life environments whether they be brick and motor, cement block or frame structures. Building a housing project is just a bad idea 💡. Shipping container homes 🏡 as stand-alone units properly constructed and insulated units are definitely 👍 a viable solution . As architect you know that a solution is only good if properly applied to the correct problem. Lastly, it's easy to say they fail as a solution when you haven't spent time living on the streets in a tent or sleeping under a bridge 🤔

[@jameswyatt1304]

Poor engineering, construction, and maintenance can screw-up the best architectural plans.

[@bobjoatmon1993]

I call BS, too much belief by "experts" in people being damaged by living in tiny homes that just shows their biased viewpoint. If course you can find people who claim how bad it is but I KNOW there are plenty that appreciate having a container home versus NOTHING. I ended up homeless for a year after a divorce and bring financially raped by the injustice system and was living in a van then finally lived on a 32 foot boat. That reeducated my expectations on what we really need to be happy. Lots of people are joining the "tiny home" movement and finding it's quite comfortable... And look at many places around the world where people have lived in small spaces for centuries (example I visited Italy and in some of the villages the housing square footage is quite small yet no one complained.) No everything has to be a mansion which has a lot of upkeep. As per the deficiencys quoted in old projects, a lot of that was poor building practices (lowest bidder) or poor maintenance (fYI I'm a maintenance guy) which let it deteriorate until it was too expensive to repair. A LOT if problems is not holding tenents accountable (because deep inside the management stereotypes the tenents as too stupid to be educatible) or makes excuses for them and hence traps them into not growing personally. I found TELLING people what was expected of them in basic maintaining and upkeep of their spaces and that I was there to cover the rest kept up the facility much better. Those basic skills were what ANY HOMEOWNER needs to do, so why not expect it of tenants who someday will move up to ownership? "Low expectations" of tenents is the start of a downward spiral for those tenents that too many of the so called educated class have that shows their innate unconscious biases.

[@nelsonparra3797]

Yes, you can’t put all the blame on the designers. I agree, that shipping containers don’t make good homes, but at some point you have expect the inhabitants to take some responsibility for the the place they live in. I used to deliver pizza to apartments in a public housing complex in Queens NY and could never understand why the people who lived there would smash the lightbulbs in the corridors or urinate in the elevators. All the elevators in that building smelled like urine and we’re covered in graffiti. The maintenance guy would tell us stories of people not reporting leaks under their sink then the downstairs neighbor’s ceiling would start falling down from the water damage. People are as much a part of the problem as the design. Design alone can’t fix the problem.

[@biancat7761]

Just simply opening the winder when your cooking to make sure there is not condensation. Tenants should get a little booklet on how to look after their house? Do you think that would help because I imagine the maintenance of a shipping container is different to a normal house. But I think one area they need to improve on is the insulation. Esp for the containers that are on higher levels, torture during the summer!

[@bobjoatmon1993]

@@biancat7761 FYI - I am living in a container home in Texas USA right now on a bit of land I bought and I'm happy. I used a 40' and a 20' joined together and the sides cut out between. I built a roof over the entire thing that's 42' x 18' so I have shade from the intense sun. I also tacked steel framing studs over the exterior, did all the wiring and piping on the exterior and then had it closed cell spray foamed 3.5 inches. Finally covered / sheathed the exterior (attaching to the edges of the steel studs) with cement board. I've got plenty of interior space, a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living area. Several double pane windows let in light. With the 'L' shape of the containers but square roof that gives me a covered patio. I'm collecting rainwater off the roof. I did glue wood paneling to the interior walls to make it less echoing and better appearance. I'm quite happy with it and it's very comfortable (and it's MINE, so I'm not paying rent to someone else's bank account!!!) Land (1/2 acre), utilities (electric), driveway, containers and finishing them out = USD $ 15K And YES, a class or book on how to be a good tenant would definitely help.

[@biancat7761]

@@bobjoatmon1993 soooo happy for you. Sound spike you found your slice of heaven.

[@haqir.jamison7668]

@@bobjoatmon1993 These videos seem to be about government spaces. We should know that all government spaces are always going to be terrible because governments do not really care about the project. If you’re a caring person the structure will be fine, the electric and the insulation will be fine. It’s ridiculous.

[@sabriath]

The major problem is psychological...homeless people want to feel like they've earned their place while being envious of their dreams beyond their current position, which means that if you just hand them something, they usually tend to find things wrong with it. This is basic human nature, honestly, because it's a biological nature to have greed, it's how we compete in not only the economic sense, but also sexual....we want our children to survive, which means we need to be better than the people around us, which is an underlying competition within us. So when someone is giving you something that you didn't deserve, it is unexpected and "fishy," almost to the tune of thinking "is it poisoned/dangerous?" The things that are given freely are thought to have zero value, so the work in maintaining such things is also zero value....for example, I paid a lot of money for my home, I take pride in it, I have improved many areas of the home and continue to build its equity the best I can because I have the thought that at some point, it would be worth something. But if someone gave you a home completely free of charge, then you subconsciously think that it has 0 future value....so what's the point in doing any work on it? That leads to it going to shit really fast. Then you have corruption in the whole thing, with "good intentions" turning into "let me lower the standards and pocket the difference." (this is the "greed" nature showing through) I personally never understood the shipping container fad....they are $1500 or more, plus another $3,000 to transport. Then you have all the costs of building it out, and honestly, it makes no sense considering you have to negotiate around all that metal, which is not a good insulator....after all the costs, you are better off just manufacturing a bunch of mobile/trailer, RV, or tiny homes. But I still feel you need to give them mental incentive to maintain or improve it, one way is to put aside a portion of their rent into an investment account on their behalf that matures if and only if the unit has been maintained (on a sliding scale), plus I've always thought that knowledge has the power to uplift people from poverty, so financial and economics classes (free) should be available to them to help manage their finances, control spending, and get them to a better healthy retirement (I teach this stuff for free). But that's my opinion.

[@sabriath]

@@tewekdenahom485 .. well obviously, because we keep treating the symptom and not the cure.

[@BelindaCarr]

I completely agree with you psychological analysis of the situation!

[@JohnMulhall1]

Unite d'Habitation itself did not fail, and the flats remain desirable properties today. They were built with all the amenities that were needed for the project to work; shops gym, school etc. The problems arose when the model was copied on the cheep, without the essential amenities, or when they were seen as ways to push large numbers of poorer people into small spaces with no effort made to tackle any of the underlying social problems. And yes, Corbussier was arrogant enough to believe that his designs would fix all social problems.

[@regularperson9965]

I don't think we should stop the innovation of shipping containers. They are low cost and better than leaving people in the street. For unsafe floors there are polymers that can be painted on and added sand to to make them walk-able. The same thing for walls. There are likely inexpensive sprayable insulations that can be sprayed or painted on before adding the inner wall, even drywall or cement board adhered can deftly improve the warmth of the apartment. Even spraying the outside with a similar pain-like insulation can make the container more weather resistant. Its still a good low cost solution for the homeless. If they want they can get a job and move out really... it's not meant to be a forever home.

[@outofoblivionproductions4015]

That period of time from when you first sensed the architectural world was a way of thinking, to the time when you realised the thinking is neurotic.

[@BryanTorok]

Immigrants came to the USA and lived in tenements, apartment buildings, with with 5 to 8 people living in a one bedroom apartment, often with bathroom facilities shared with several other families. The Native-Americans lived with a whole family in a wigwam/tee-pee. People living in large Indian cities stake an area of sidewalk to sleep on. I agree that humans are not meant to live forever in crowded rabbit hutches. And, some of the housing examples are poorly conceived and/or poorly executed. But, the main problem is not the housing.

[@monicareid8858]

You have such a compassionate insight on impoverished and homeless people, and how people react to architecture. I really appreciate your insight on this topic. Well done.

[@ChipChapinSJ]

Thank you for your refreshing and informative commentaries. I would like to see more of a distinction drawn between modular construction in general and shipping containers specifically. It seems to me that manufactured housing modules using more suitable materials can address the physical shortcomings you've identified in the 8x20 steel box, better fit the needs of those who live there and, given a creative touch, blend with the community.

[@ChipChapinSJ]

I notice you did address this point in your reply to Sagittarius. Perhaps a video on modular construction?

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks, Chip! I'm working on a modular housing video. It's a pretty broad topic and has so many definitions depending on whether you are a designer, fabricator or builder. I hope to release it next month.

[@duketogo2616]

@@BelindaCarr - There's a foldable Kickstarter house that's being marketed as the future of housing called Boxabl if like to see your take on. As a layperson my first thoughts with the entire prefab system is how does one maintain anything in the inevitable event something breaks?

[@Dubhain]

Are they insulated? Are they equipped with heating/cooling, or ventilation, so it can air out? Sounds more like they are going the cheap route, and that is what the problem is.

[@galegrazutis964]

These are TEMPORARY. They want a a e with heating cooling g and insulation they should use the time they have in these places to find employment then they can get themselves an apartment with ALL those features!!!

[@evansamekudzi5612]

This containers are bigger than most village buildings in my country. The people would be glad to have this instead of hats

[@LadyScaper]

Do you live in one?

[@ShadeandShadow4ever]

Summer: too hot, Winter: Freezing, and there's mold because of condensation. Ewww. I'm suddenly very grateful for my apartment. And modern construction requirements. A lot of stuff I don't know about that keeps us safe and comfortable.

[@kirinwijaya]

The idea is to give homeless TEMPORARY shelter from harsh weather and safe from street crimes. It is not supposed to be as comfortable as a real home because once people gets too comfortable, they will stop aiming for higher goal..in their case is to be employed, upgrade their skills for them to get a better job and to finally rent or buy a house.Be grateful for little things but aim higher. We cant ask people what they want because a Want cant be a handout. A handout is basic necessities.We have to work for our want. If we ask people what they want, the list can be endless.Its human nature. Container homes could work but it has to be well insulated for different weather/ soundproof and it has to be inspected frequently and change when needed. But now since we are living with pandemic worldwide, an additional room with toilet will be ideal for home quarantine (big families). This can help hospitals from being overpopulated. There should be laws and regulations (so people knows what can be done and what's not before moving in) just like a normal flat to make it a live-able for everybody. Im from Singapore and we have one of the lowest number of homeless situation in the world. We have temporary shelters for homeless but it is temporary. We have different shelter scheme for singles, single parents and families. For families, each family was given ONE room in 3 bedroom flat with shared living room area, toilet and kitchen. For them to get a temporary personal space like the container will be a bliss.But this is all Temporary. Different organisations will work together to equip individuals with skills,get them employed and children to get proper education. And once employed, they will be offered a temporary subsidized rental flat (studio or 2 room without sharing with another family) from government. Then they will be encourage and guide to further upgrade their skills sponsored by government to help them achieve their goals in buying their own flat. If they are not able to work due to chronic medical condition or old age, they will be given a rental studio flat and sometimes they need to share with another person of the same situation.And these flat rental will be borne by the government. So we need to understand that it is a temporary and stepping stone for them to aim higher in life especially if they are young, fit, able to work and have children.

[@91Vault]

A handout is basic necessities.We have to work for our want. If we ask people what they want, the list can be endless.Its human nature.

[@kirinwijaya]

@@91Vault Homeless issue is not just skin surface. It has many layers to it and thats the reason why there are many checks before one will be given a proper rental flat. Why the countries you mentioned has failed is because no government is perfect and Singapore is included too. There has to be many trial and errors before they can actually come up with something that actually works. I agree with you that one should be given a free Temporary housing should they need one. Again, I said it has to be temporary. Because if one is given a free permanent super comfortable housing, others will start to demand the same. And how many can the government provide and for how long? The country economy will bleed because it will be tapped into government fund. For example, a shelter made up of container is not as expensive to build compared to solid concrete. A concrete housing is built for rental and purchase housing because there will be monetary return. For rental housing, the rental payout can go to cover the amount of money used to build that house and excess can be used to build more rental housing. As for purchased flat, it will help in economy growth. When there are economic growth, there will be more jobs generated for people and more cash help given to the low income. We have to identify difference between a want and a need. A pizza is want for the hungry but a sandwich can fill one stomach too. A fully functional, well insulated container home can accomodate families. It is not the best option so the Cons will propel them to work harder towards a better home. Of course, they should be guided by agencies on how to work with the system. Poverty is a mindset. Why I said that? There are some homeless when given opportunities to change for the better, they worked hard and they managed to get themselves out of poverty. But there are some who will keep on complaining about help given but refused to work harder to achieve better life.They find themselves stuck in the homeless situation. Nobody likes rules, regulations and conditions but it is necessary to keep everyone safe. Safety: For example, if nobody is screened for drugs and criminal backgrounds, they can cause disturbances or even harm for other residents especially to the women, young ones and elderly. If we are clean and harmless, there's nothing to fear. Respecting other's needs: Even simple rules need to be implement such as excessive noise after 10pm, this is to ensure that everybody can live in peace. Do whatever you want before 10pm and keep noise down after 10pm so others can sleep in peace. These basic rules are needed to help people living in close proximity to live in peace without getting on each other's nerves. Identiying between someone who wants help and someone who needs help: Some are homeless due to no fault of their own such as domestic abuse, job loss, etc. This group will work hard when given the right opportunities and eventually move into houses of their choice and break free from poverty. And there is another group who refused to work and just want their government to take care of their needs. They will use their welfare to buy drugs, alcohol and continue doing whatever they want instead of helping themselves. Its impossible to help this group unless they help themselves first.

[@undergroundo]

3:02 "Shipping containers cannot.. ..provide the.. ..requirements for living". Neither can a tent on the sidewalk. The question is not "Is it good?" but "Is it better?".

[@gi1dor]

It's not a choice between street and shipping containers. But between shipping containers and traditional building practices for cheap/social/subsidized housing

[@jedidiah5131]

I know a few people who dove into the tiny home and shipping container movement, 5 years later none of them are living in such structures for a multitude of reason and many that have been mentioned in this video. I can only imagine people that are asked to live in such places, it would be very confining and and not easy on anyone's mental health. People who are considering downsizing are not taking into account the extreme issues they will face especially if they have lived large already. They start to miss the convinces and the ease of daily tasks. Another issue is insurance and try to find property to buy that will let you have such a structure. If you have children , to me it borders on child abuse having your children grow up in one of these structures, they have no room for anything and all of a sudden they are teenagers. As mentioned the number one issue was hot and cold temps. Thanks for the video.

[@rainbowdemon5033]

As someone who grew up in a apartment complex, I think that Apartments can give a family everything a suburbs house does. The key is forming a "Settlement" (didn't find any better translation, it's Siedlung in German) with a bunch of complexes that are only a few stories tall, so that there can be more familiarity with neighbours, and have Lawns between those buildings. Planting trees, and installing stuff like a Playground for kids, a small community Garden and clotheslines can also help to bring the inhabitants in contact and make for a social living and better upbringing for children.

[@Cspacecat]

After stacking together, the external insulating should be required.

[@colormedubious4747]

Nobody does more long-term harm than a self-styled "progressive do-gooder" on an ideological crusade.

[@raydreamer7566]

You said one thing that I agree with - when things are done cheaply they fail..... Shipping containers are not a failure because of there super strong steel shell exteriors but because standard housing insulating procedures are applied to shipping containers which are not compatible with the steel shell. Once again the failure is not in the container but contractors using the wrong finishing methods to cut costs.

[@rtyria]

Turning shipping containers into houses doesn't even sound practical as a fashionable home for the wealthy. It sounds like a disaster in the making once you start talking about housing for the homeless. I've spent 5 years in "temporary" housing that was already 50 years old at least by the time my family lived there. The floors were made out of asbestos tile and were so worn out that they left white powder on our feet. The bees made several nests in our siding and managed to take over our entire upper floor and were well on their way to colonizing our living room by the time housing officials finally got around to taking care of the problem (the living room was the only room large enough for us to sleep in after the bedrooms became unsafe). The water was contaminated with both gasoline from a local gas station with cracked tanks and raw sewage. My father got tired of his complaints being dismissed off hand and took a cleaned out pickle jar filled with tap sludge and offered to make the guy in charge of housing his morning coffee with it. They finally gave everyone water filters after that. That was in New Jersey, in the Navy housing at Lakehurst, now long gone.