A new way to tackle homelessness?

[davidc4430]

Moveable houses and vacant government blocks — a new way to tackle homelessness?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-13/moveable-houses-vacant-blocks-new-way-tackle-homelessness/9139...

[bright.ton42]

This sounds really progressive and creative.  If it works one would hope similar blocks of vacant land owned by Vicroads could be used for the same good 

The project is the product of a collaboration between a community organisation, a government transport department (VicRoads) and a philanthropic donor.

Would love to know more about the donor.   Cynical me wonders if it s a  tax claim or are they truly genuine givers. 

[zanadoo_56]

I hope this takes off and doesn't get dragged down in a lack of consensus re building and council regs.

It's funny reading that this type of housing on a large scale are newish in Oz.  Not exactly.  Either they are referring to what these houses will be made of, or someone has a short memory.  Some houses were built in the 50s in some city suburbs in Oz that were intended to be temporary and potentially moveable.  In the end they probably didn't  move but the concept isn't new.

Also, the ghastly prefabricated concrete houses built in Broadmeadows and Frankston (I can say they were ghastly - I've lived in one) were a quick Housing Commission solution when housing was urgently needed.  Prefab housing has come a long way since then thank goodness...and no longer would fixed windows be set directly into the concrete nor would anything that had a base (like a frame under a bath or the bottom shelf in kitchen cupboards) mean there was no actual need to bother with building a real floor underneath them.  I'm not making that up BTW.

I sure hope this works but I'm not an optimist, knowing the government and their capacity to make things unnecessarily difficult.

[davidc4430]

i would be waiting for the "not in my neighbourhood" group to start protesting.

and there would be one as sure as the sun comes up.

[domino-710]

Why not - supposed to be spare Government blocks.

[bsal6160]

the supposed homeless are living in melbourne CBD. prime pickings for their begging. do you think they are going to go to the outer suburbs just because the council builds pre-fab housing for them.. not likely.

homeless or just unemployed and lazy??? i vote the second option.

[jimmy*part4]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

Moveable houses and vacant government blocks — a new way to tackle homelessness?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-13/moveable-houses-vacant-blocks-new-way-tackle-homelessness/9139...

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The biggest problem I see with this plan.....many of the homeless are druggies or have mental issues. So packing them together is a bad idea. Unless you station a police booth there. Better off just scattering about shipping containers here and there. Most just want a place to lay down without being hassled.

Better then having the homeless scattered about the subway systems or under any overhang they can find.

Maybe after a screening process moving the ones that qualify to something like that.

[chameleon54]

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@bright.ton42 wrote:

This sounds really progressive and creative.  If it works one would hope similar blocks of vacant land owned by Vicroads could be used for the same good 

The project is the product of a collaboration between a community organisation, a government transport department (VicRoads) and a philanthropic donor.

Would love to know more about the donor.   Cynical me wonders if it s a  tax claim or are they truly genuine givers. 

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Even if they are on the highest tax rate, they will still be handing over 50% of the value of the houses from their own pocket, so I would think it is probably a genuine philanthropic gesture.

[bright.ton42]

Yes i suspect you're right .  It's so good to know there are truly  good ppl around. 

As for the homeless being lazy i m sre there are plenty around, but a large number are mentally impaired and subject to so much abuse on th e streets.    

[springyzone]

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@farnsworth4sale wrote:

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@davidc4430 wrote:

Moveable houses and vacant government blocks — a new way to tackle homelessness?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-13/moveable-houses-vacant-blocks-new-way-tackle-homelessness/9139...

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The biggest problem I see with this plan.....many of the homeless are druggies or have mental issues. So packing them together is a bad idea. Unless you station a police booth there. Better off just scattering about shipping containers here and there. Most just want a place to lay down without being hassled.

Better then having the homeless scattered about the subway systems or under any overhang they can find.

Maybe after a screening process moving the ones that qualify to something like that.

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What you said about packing them together is very true. I saw a documentary about a small suburb in NSW i think it was, where most of the residents were single mums in govt housing or else people with problems and it was chaos with teens running out of control.

If you want to rehome people with problems, it's a bad idea to do it en masse, all in the same area.

You would need to carefully vet people for rehoming. And spread them out.

Quite frankly, why shouldn't residents of a suburb or street be put out if they heard of cheap govt storage units going up near them with a dozen or so possibly disfunctional families/people with mental issues/druggies moving in? Of course they would be worried. That's why the vetting would have to be thorough.

Plus if the buildings were an eyesore they could make their own homes harder to sell.

I know we're talking temporary but realistically that could mean 20-30 years in govt talk.

My solution would be to maybe have some govt owned caravans/cabin vans scattered through various caravan parks, rented out very cheaply to those looking for a home. So no one knew who was govt subsidised and who was not.

I'd also be looking at the tiny home movement, where we're talking about a building as small as some caravans.