From tents to tiny houses, advocates get creative to address Nevada's affordable housing shortage

[TexasTowelie]

Amid a global pandemic and an unforgiving job market that's contributing to an impending eviction crisis, and as politicians in Reno and Las Vegas grapple with ways to address homelessness in the long term, individuals and nonprofits are developing creative solutions to address an affordable housing crunch.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development defines affordable housing as housing that costs no more than 30 percent of a person or household's income. That’s hard to come by for people in the lowest income brackets.

In Reno, there are only 41 affordable housing units for every 100 renter households earning between 31 and 50 percent of the median income. For every 100 renters making 30 percent or less of the area’s median income, there are only 27 affordable units available, according to an analysis of Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data from 2010-2014.

There were also more than 7,000 people experiencing homelessness in Nevada as of January 2019 — an estimate that officials believe is an undercount.

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/advocates-and-nonprofits-work-to-address-nevadas-affordable-housing-shortage

[mitch96]

1. I always thought it would be neat to used "pre owned" shipping containers...

At last look see they were between $3000 and $6000 each. Someone with more smarts than me could contract a builder to do pre fab interiors. Flat slab bolted down, plumbing embedded in the slab, HVAC package on slab also. Welder could cut out doors and windows for a basic livable structure. I would assume more durable than a mobile home. I'm no builder so this is my polly anna fix...YMMV
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[Merlot]

2. There's a company (probably more than one) who does that here in LA

By time they're done, they cost a lot but look much nicer than a mobile home and yes, more durable. They cut windows into them and also make them double wide.

[mitch96]

3. I saw a program on one of those DIY channels that put up a three box container home..

U shaped. One box was sleeping, middle was kitchen/dining and the other was the living area...Lots of cutting,welding and grinding for openings. It looked very sturdy. It's not going to blow away... They put some sort of roof with storage in it and it came out looking ok. Not just three rectangles.
m