General Discussion

KamaAina

(78,249 posts) Tue Jun 3, 2014, 01:39 PM Jun 2014

San Jose Leaders Look To Build ‘Pods,’ ‘Microhouses’ To Shelter The Homeless

In the prosperous "Capital of Silicon Valley", we have the largest encampment of homeless people in the mainland U.S.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/04/29/san-jose-leaders-look-to-build-pods-microhouses-to-shelter-the-homeless/

And that’s the idea behind a new idea at San Jose City Hall to help the homeless.

Two councilmembers who are running against each other for mayor have jointly written a memo calling on the city to build new neighborhoods for the homeless using shed-sized “microhouses” or “housing pods.”

It’s already worked in a handful of cities, including Grass Valley and Eugene, Oregon.

“We’re looking at trying to identify public spaces, publicly owned land where we can get a lot of microhousing out there,” said Councilmember Sam Liccardo.

The concern here, expressed by a homelessness activist I work closely with, is that Councilmember Liccardo, a huge ally of the business community

, may view the sheds as a permanent solution rather than as a temporary one until the residents can find, you know, actual housing, with running water 'n' all that first-world stuff.