Can a Big Village Full of Tiny Homes Ease Homelessness in Austin?
One of the nation’s largest experiments in affordable housing to address chronic homelessness is taking shape outside the city limits.
I'm wonder how cost-effective this is compared to, say, a regular apartmentblock with external stairs/walkways and shared ammenities? Density would go up, but that doesn't mean much if you don't need to build a kitchen/bathroom in every unit anyway.
Most of these houses are gardensheds, they don't look very durable to me, and very unsuited to, say, a 2021 Texas winter.
I think the difference in building codes alone could make this much less expensive.
My understanding is these places are designed to promote the independence of residents to give them a base to build on to put their life back together. The separate space really helps drive that home in a way that an apartment can't. In an apartment, you can often hear what's going on in the next room, and that's not great when you're trying to build better habits and your neighbor isn't.
