AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Shipping Containers - Blight or cozy little hideaway?


Thanks to an enormous trade deficit, mountains of shipping containers are accumulating in the United States. A major irony is that these 20 ft long rectangular boxes are roomier and more resistant to the elements than the housing units of a good portion of the world's population. So why not turn the containers into housing units?

Well, that's being tried. See the site below:

containerbay

The problem that I see is that the vast majority of these efforts are taking place in Europe and the U.S. This is where we have the surplus of containers. The projects should take place where they have a shortage of housing.

I've been to Peru where determined squatters hand build little shacks on hillsides whereever they can. (It is irrelevant that they seldom have any legal claim to the land.) These enterprising settlers could make shipping containers into very livable housing. The problem is that the powers that be don't want the settlers to live there at all.