Now that much of the West Coast and other parts of the country have declared a state of emergency for homelessness, a new look at housing people is warranted.
Cities across the country all have different strategies for housing the homeless and elevating them to stability. Some cities such as Salt Lake City, spend millions on constructing swaths of permanent housing with onsite counseling and vocational resource advisors. Other cities build huge hospital-like facilities with counselors, doctors and housing all under one roof. Some cities do nothing. This rainy city of Seattle emphasizes housing homelessness is tent encampments.
But permanent housing and tents aren’t the only options.
What if it was possible to quickly set up temporary housing, safely, securely, and intended purely as temporary shelter at a reasonable cost? Wouldn’t it make sense, and show genuine human compassion to pursue that kind of solution?
A new technology is changing the way people are housed during emergency situations. Concrete Canvas is a company from the UK, and they have developed a cheap and easy way of building safe and secure structures. They offer what has been described as a “building in a bag.”
The structure is made out of a concrete laden cloth. It’s light and flexible and can be easily transported. The structure is 177 square foot and can be set up by two people in less than 2 hours. To set it up, the bag is opened and the cloth is pulled out using a truck or tractor. Then it’s inflated. A dome-like structure takes shape. Then it’s staked down like a tent and then“hydrated.” A simple hosing down is all it takes to activate the concrete, and it’s ready to use in less than 24 hours. Once set, the structure has a lifespan of 10 years and can house up to 40 people. It even comes with a front door.
The bagged building costs $36,000. The amount seems like a lot but considering the city estimated $32,000 for a one-time start up cost of the new emergency encampments and a $200,000 annual lease for the sites -- which was already provided in the city budget – the cost seems low for what it provides: safe, secure, and warm transitional homes for human beings in a time of crisis. Furthermore, after Seattle and King county declared the state of emergency, Mayor Murray announced that the City is adding a $5.3 million to the already $40 million they invest a year in human services. In addition, County Executive Dow Constantine proposed $2 million in investments for services that respond to immediate needs and main causes of homelessness, including addiction services. There are many, many buildings in a bag that could be purchased with that money. The annual One Night Count found almost 4,000 people living without shelter in Seattle. Roughly 100 Concrete Canvas structures could be purchased for $3.6 million. Then every man, woman and child currently living on the streets could rise out of homelessness without sleeping in a tent. Plus, Concrete Canvas offers discounts for “bulk” orders.
Based on person-capacity of each bagged building, it would be a “viable option” for the city; just one would be able to house every person at the new Ballard encampment, which is expected to house around 40 people. The internal area of structure could be partitioned off like barracks. Think bunks. No more living in tents outside and no more security and safety issues that arise from tents because the bagged buildings are also wind, heat and waterproof.
So what does the city think about these buildings in a bag? The Ballard News-Tribune pitched this idea to the city and their response was that they are “too permanent.”
Bear in mind that they could be taken down within an hour by a backhoe, put in a
truck and hauled away for recycling. Or established on a platform, it could be picked up and moved to a new site on a flatbed truck.
“We are currently concentrating on transitional shelters and transitional encampments, as well as “tiny house” options,” said Wendy Shark with the Department of Planning and Development.
Diane Sugimura, Director of the Department of Planning and Development, elaborated on the City’s plan and how it emphasizes transitional and not permanent structures.
“The City is pursuing transitional rather than permanent encampments because the Mayor and City Council do not believe an encampment is an appropriate way to house people for the long term… stable housing, a roof overhead is needed. However, we have a homelessness crisis, which is why the legislation was adopted, “ write Sugimura.
The legislation Sugimura mentioned is the City Council approved ordinance to build three new city sanctioned transitional encampments. The encampments are in Ballard, Interbay and South Seattle.
“The transitional encampment legislation is intended to provide “transitional” housing meaning services will be provided at these encampments in order to help people with a pathway to long-term housing.”
The transitional encampments have a “sunset date” of five years up to March 2020.
Perhaps the Ballard New-Tribune’s building-in-a-bag notion was a little inflated. For now the City has staked down their crisis response strategy of housing people in tents, which is the same strategy that has been used since 1990 and now being used as we enter into a state of emergency. However, the DPD did say that they would be open to reviewing the structure as a potential housing option.
“Over time, we have looked at a variety of housing options, but have not yet had a chance to review this and to consider how it would or would not comply with existing regulations,” wrote Shark.
The Office of the Mayor was contacted to comment on building-in-a-bag but they have not responded.
For more information about concrete canvas http://www.concretecanvas.com
