AFFORDABLE SHELTERS: SELF-HELP PROJECT

1. Introduction: Major cost in any infrastructure is the labour and overhead part (up to 70% of the project cost) of it, not the material. If cost of labour and overhead of a project can be minimized, the overall cost can be significantly reduced. In this proposal we will analyze how we can involve the low-income or homeless themselves for building shelters for them to lower down the cost of infrastructure. Use of skilled volunteers, volunteer engineering consultants and even not-for-profit contractors will also be considered. Easy methods of shelter building that will require minimum skills and specializations will also be investigated.

2. Shelters: Before designing a shelter we have to know what kind of shelters and services that prospective tenants look for (Slide 1). The products need to suit the user needs to get a good market. It would be inhuman to force homeless people into a shelter that does not meet their expectations.

Slide 1: What kind of service and shelters the homeless look for

The limited research to date shows that, in addition to social, financial and medical help for survival, the homeless people want temporary shelters, especially during extreme weather conditions, where they can bring in their pets and store their buggies that carry their belongings. Once they are in a permanent shelter they may not require the buggies. Most of the current temporary shelter facilities do not allow the homeless to bring in their pets or buggies which are very dear to them. This discourages the homeless people to go to these temporary shelters.

To solve the shelter issues, we will need to find an effective, permanent and economic solution. One of the ways is to involve the homeless themselves for the solution. To date there have been no initiatives to involve the homeless in designing, processing and building the shelters. They have only been offered or forced into ready-made services or facilities with total investment from government and/or private organizations. If we can involve the homeless people in the process of designing and building of the solutions, it will be a great achievement (Slide 2), both socially and economically. In this way the homeless are more likely to take ownership of the solution while developing their cognitive as well as psychomotor skills. This will also make the solution to homelessness more cost-effective and will provide them the opportunity of temporary or permanent employment. People that are opposed to spending public money for the homeless may also support this initiative.

Slide 2: Involving the homeless in the solution process

As the self-help project will involve the unskilled or semi-skilled homeless people in building their own shelters, the building methods will have to be very simple. Prefabricated skeletons for the shelter would be the most appropriate building method. With technical supervision and on-the-job training, these shelters can be built at a fraction of the current cost of building homeless shelters.

Only one type of shelter cannot solve the homelessness issue. There are few common types of shelters that may be required. These shelters may be permanent, transportable or even mobile in some cases (Comments 1). Within a city like Vancouver, where empty plots are rare, allocation of spaces for permanent buildings for homeless shelters is not feasible.

Because of the shortage of plots available for homeless shelters and the restriction of demolishing heritage buildings, the city council and the provincial governments are renovating old hotels and building complexes at very high cost in an attempt to solve the homelessness issues in some cities like Vancouver. One such renovation has recently incurred a cost of over $300,000 for each single-room shelter, which is much higher than the cost of a new building.

Another important point is the selection of locations of these different types of shelters. We should first understand the priority for the homeless mass. If drug is their priority over shelters, the shelters should be preferred in an area that is close to where drugs are traded or near safe injection sites. This is where mobile shelters (Image 1 & Image 2) will be useful. Once the homeless start using the shelters that are brought to them, and get the taste of the comfort, and eventually get better feeling with other assistances they need, they may then be easily convinced to move to permanent shelters.

Image 1: Mobile shelter, possible interior arrangement

Though most of the homeless people are singles, some of them have partners and may prefer to live in shelters as a couple. There are also a small number of homeless families caused by poverty. The number of these homeless families is directly dependent on the local economy. Thus, the types of shelters should include ones appropriate for single habitants (Image 3; Image 5), as well as units for couples and also for families. It will not be cost-effective to have single detached shelters in the latter two of the situations. Community shelters (Image 4, Image 6) of either a single type or combination with some common facilities will make more economic

sense. Some self-contained shelters (Image 5) with a washroom and a kitchen should be considered, as many homeless people require these necessities. The rent for these shelters may vary according to the size and facilities available yet must still be affordable to its prospective tenants.

Image 2: Mobile shelter, side view

Comments 1: Types of shelters for homeless

Given that the number of homeless in a society depends directly on the local economy, the availability of affordable shelters varies with time. For this reason it is more logical to build non-permanent, transportable, stackable and reusable shelters that can be converted into different types,

once it has fulfilled its initial requirements. International standard organization (ISO) containers seem to be an appropriate and affordable material to use in the building of these temporary, transportable structures.On the other hand for low income families the shelters will be permanent type and still made from low cost but durable materials needing minimum maintenance. Again ISO shipping containers may be an appropriate and affordable option.

ISO containers are used by major transportation industries (marine and road) and are made in standard sizes. The most common container sizes are 20ft and 40ft long containers with a width of 8ft and height of 8½ft or 9½ft. All the shelters in this article are designed with 40ft ISO container size. A 9½ft high container will provide good room height with the option of running the plumbing and electrical services in the headroom. Either locally available used shipping containers can be used for building these shelters or new ones may be fabricated based on these ISO standard sizes for ease of transportation and assembly.

The only issue in using shipping containers in creating homes is the perception that it would be a pigeonhole-type shelter. The unattractive appearance would result in a psychological barrier to their use. This pigeonhole shape is created when the depth of a room is much greater than its width and height. Therefore, dividing a 40ft long shipping container into two parts (Image 3) with a six feet corridor in between takes away the pigeonhole perspective. When three containers are used to build four self-contained SRO shelters (Image 5) the new structure that is far from a pigeonhole.

Once the shelters made out of containers are insulated, paneled, and covered by siding, they will look like any other building and will be stronger, fireproof and safer in addition to other advantages (Comments2). Because of prefabricated structure, it will be more applicable to the self-help projects, where the potential owners or tenants can easily contribute their labour and skill for outfitting works like paneling, plumbing, carpeting etc.

Image 3 shows two SRO shelters with a corridor designed from one standard 40ft container shape. Room size can be as big as 17ftx8ft making it 136sqft floor area. Cost of one of these modules can be as low as C$ 26,500 costing only C$13,250 for each cabin.

These modules can be assembled side-by-side and in tiers into community shelters as shown in Image 4. Community shelter with 24 SRO units with common facilities may cost around C$ 505,000 costing around C$21,000 average for each unit. Note the added storeroom, recreation

room, washroom, laundry and kitchen modules for community living. Modules can be added, removed or redesigned easily as necessary.

Image 3: Single-room shelters for common facilities

Image 4: Single-room community shelters with common facilities

Image 5 shows four self-contained SRO units made from three 40ft ISO container structures. Room size can be as big as 168sqft. Cost of one of

these modules can be as low as C$ 145,000 costing only C$36,250 for each cabin, which will be finished with all appliances.

Image 5: Self-contained single-room units

These modules also can be assembled side-by-side and in tiers into community shelters as shown in Image 6. A community shelter with 24 SRO units with common facilities may cost approximately C$ 1,011,000, which is C$42,000 average for each unit. Note the added storeroom, recreation room, washroom, laundry and kitchen modules for community living. Modules can be added, removed or redesigned easily as per requirement.

Image 6: Community shelters with self-contained single-room units

3. Advantages of Modular Shelters: Some of the advantages of this modular shelter systems include:

Spacious rooms instead of pigeon holes Easy expansion or contraction by adding or removing modules Prefabricated construction Possibility of built-in furniture Easy transportability and installation Re-sellable or transferable to a different site after use Cheaper than conventional shelter construction Virtually indestructible Strong enough to withstand severe weather condition and natural

calamities Safe Aesthetically presentable; sidings can be used to improve the look Environmental friendly as minimum forest products are used and

containers are recycled Multi-storied configuration possible to reduce land requirement Land does not have to be purchased but only leased to reduce initial

investment Can be self-contained with toilet and cooking facilities Low maintenance and life-cycle cost Suitable for self-help project as the main skeleton is readymade so

the potential owners will be able to contribute their labour to bring both the building cost and as a consequence, the rental cost down while building their skills to join mainstream workforce.

Comments 2 show a comparison between traditional constructions methods to the one proposed in this article.

Comments 2: Prefab compared with traditional building methods

4. Self-Help Project:

4.1. For Low-Income people:

4.1.1. Eligibility: Following singles, couples or families will be eligible for this project:

a) Only singles, couples or families considered in low income categories will be able to apply for these shelters

b) They will have to agree to offer minimum percentage of the total labour in their own interest category as acceptable by the management. The final price of the shelters will be reduced by the amount of labour the potential owners will offer.

c) The acceptance of the application may depend on the applicant’s criminal history and the choice of other potential owners.

4.1.2. Transfer of Ownership:

a) During construction of shelter: On valid grounds, like moving to another province and approval from the management, ownership can be transferred to another applicant.

b) After possession of shelter: On valid grounds, like moving to another province and approval from the management, ownership can be transferred to another applicant.

4.2. For Homeless people:

4.2.1. Eligibility: Following singles, couples or families will be eligible for this project:

a) Only singles, couples or families considered homeless will be able to apply for these shelters

b) They will have to agree to offer minimum percentage of the total labour in their own interest category as acceptable by the management. The final price of the shelters will be reduced by the amount of labour the potential owners will offer.

c) The acceptance of the application may depend on the applicant’s criminal history and the choice of other potential owners.

4.2.2. Transfer of Ownership:

a) During construction of shelter: On valid grounds, like moving to another province and approval from the management, ownership can be transferred to another applicant.

b) After possession of shelter: On valid grounds, like moving to another province and approval from the management, ownership can be transferred to another applicant.

5. Options for Volunteers: Qualified and skilled volunteers will be very helpful in every step of this project. In addition to this volunteers offering their time and labour will also be welcomed to bring down the cost of the infrastructures.

5.1. Individual Volunteers: These volunteers will be from both skilled and non-skilled categories contributing their time and/or skill for the infrastructure development.

5.2.Educational Institutes: Both teachers and students can take part in

planning, design, development and building phases of this kind of projects.

5.3.Consultants: Consulting firm/s or individual consultants can volunteer to take part in research, planning, design, development and building phases of this kind of projects.

5.4.Non-profit contractors: Though this sounds like a weird concept, but for this kind of projects skilled people can form non-profit companies to work as contractors.