Canada's Housing Goes Prefab

The U.S. isn't the only country feeling the strain of the economy. Our neighbor to the north has been struggling to stem the rising tide of homelessness. This week, the city of Vancouver is backing a unique approach to provide housing for the homeless: temporary, prefabricated homes.

Back in March, I wrote about the possibility of tiny houses providing temporary shelter from the economic storm. Here's a recap of the "tiny house" concept:

Talk about affordable housing. For just $1,500 a pop, these tiny pallet houses were designed by students at Emily Carr University and are meant to serve as no-frills shelters for the homeless. With a roof and a lock on the door, they sure are safer than tents.

Ever since this post was published in early March, the conversation in the comment section has been both ongoing and fun to follow. (To that end, thanks to all of those who have offered great thoughts and creative ideas in response to that post!)

Well, it seems the low-cost, temporary modular home idea is catching on. Government officials in Vancouver are backing a plan that would create 550 prefabricated modular units in response to the rising homeless population. Here are details from the Vancouver Sun:

The province asked Michael Geller to study the feasibility of the modular concept and he concluded that the idea was a practical one. Geller said capital costs would vary between $37,000 and $46,000 per unit, compared to $302,000 for permanent units already announced by the province.

"One of the true benefits of this approach is that we can have people housed in a matter of months rather than a matter of years," said Geller.

"While some may be concerned that this housing will not be attractive, I think the plans produced to date clearly demonstrate that a great concern may be that it's too attractive and hence will become permanent."

The Vancouver mayor says that this is the "boldest step" that the city has taken to address the city's rising homeless population. I have to agree. $37-46K per unit is a significant investment for a "temporary" fix.

That said, I doubt there will be anything temporary about these prefab homes. Consider schools that bring in "temporary" modular classrooms, only to continue using them 3-5 years later. It's likely these prefab homes will be clustered, underfunded, but counted as affordable housing stock for years to come. I'm not being pessimistic here, I'm just arguing that this "bold" band-aid solution isn't enough. Inclusionary zoning and bold measures to address systemic inequality and poverty are crucial to addressing homelessness i the long-term.

But in the meantime, prefab housing is a creative way to restore dignity for people who may not have any other immediate options. Bravo, Vancouver.