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| This is a container home that doesn't look like it just came off the ship. |
Almost 1 billion people around the world live in slums. Most everyone else complains about them.
Most complaints are not about the lack of sanitation, clean water, or reliable power. They aren't about the integrity of the structures, nor the disease that dwells there.
Most non-slum dwellers complain about slums saying that such neighbourhoods are "unsightly".
I have seen the same complaint levelled at container homes - in their raw form they are kind of slum-like since they are built from the same mountainous waste pile of industrial civilization's throw-offs.
Let's face it - no one wants a potential piece of the slum moving in next door.
Perhaps the people next door are simply trying to survive and can't afford to care much about the aesthetic sensibilities of their more fortunate and beautifully-housed neighbours.
However, I admit that the attractiveness of container homes can vary.
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| Funky cottage style. I could live on this deck. |
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| A more industrial style still works for me, but would it work for neighbours, too? |
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| Lots of windows and deck space improve the appeal of a container home. |
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| This is a standard, clean unit that some may equate with the non-high income. It is "too small". But I would ask, "Too small for what?" |
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| This is where the living happens. |
I am not into glorifying the cup. I want to know about the space inside, and with what it is filled. The inside of a home is the part I wish to enjoy.
That is, after all, where you do most of your living whether you are in a mansion or a slum shack.
I have earned my living designing houses for the past 30 years and would be happy to live in the top one, or to have it next door!
ReplyDeleteCharlotteP,
DeleteThat is quite the endorsement. I like the design as well. It is simple and practical, things I like in my shelter.
There are so many containers sitting empty that could be put to use. From the looks of the top design it would be fairly easy and inexpensive to build a sturdy, acceptable home.
Container homes demonstrate homelessness is a decision society made, as a group. It was o.k. for some not to have homes. Container homes are cheap and cheerful and would solve a lot of homelessness. they can be built for little, moved when necessary, yet governments don't use them much at all. Instead they prefer people to be homeless, or at least that's the only conclusion I come to.
ReplyDeletee.a.f.,
DeleteThere is more than enough money in the world to solve all of our problems many times over. It is not a money problem, it is an allocation problem. The things that we allow to happen on this planet when we could ensure that they never occur again is disturbing.
Your conclusion is correct in my opinion. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction willfully deployed on billions of people every day.