Last Wednesday at City Hall, in the offices of the City Council President, we had a meeting with several Department Heads to discuss a plan that we have been working on for a considerable period of time.
With the help of Architect, Mr. Jay Orr, AIA we were able to put together several architectural renderings of converting 40' steel containers into homes for the homeless. While this concept of converting these containers into housing, especially if you are an advocate of Tiny Homes, you are aware of such conversions being accomplished in the past.
This housing fits on plots of land owned by the city of Baltimore, where houses have been demolished due to their deteriorated conditions and will be filled in with these retrofitted converted containers with suitable space for a family of three. Utilizing the concept of keeping the neighborhood fabric in line with other houses within the area, we simply created houses that fell within that plan. These converted houses look precisely like every other Row Houses that Baltimore is famous for, so neighborhoods will be pleased to have them in their neighborhood.
We propose that the conversion process will move ahead at $75. per square foot, well below the national average for a new home and will feature a single bathroom, two bedrooms and kitchen and dining area. One of the bedrooms can have a sofa convertable to a bed for the evening and the other bedroom will have bunk beds with 9' ceilings, a back yard and parking pad, with a small wrap around porch in the front, all of which is consistent with our neighborhoods in the city.
Detroit had previously been involved in the Tiny Home concept, but they were built for the suburbs and this new design will be an urban development.
These will not be rental units, but rent to own units after a suitable period of time and the Homeless Services Department will offer wrap around services to the new owners of this property to assist them into transitioning into home ownership. They will come and visit the new owners and work with them so that learn about home ownership, working within the neighborhoods and just existing in a new home of their own.
At the end of the meeting all were in agreement to move forward on this project and we hope soon to see these homes being set up and having people that have been forced into a homeless condition be able to move forward with dignity and respect.
