Posted by Ples E. Schnitz on May 01, 2002 at 21:11:18:In Reply to: ArchWeek - Livable Places Project posted by Kevin Matthews on May 01, 2002 at 18:38:40:
UTA has a competition every few years regarding homes for the homeless. We have had every thing from tree houses to filling in the areas below overpasses offered up as solutions. Imagine the wonderful nights sleep one would get under the overpass! There exist several problems with the concept in the programming phase, long before design is an issue. The majority of these people are "homeless" for different reasons than "not having a home". Most are paranoid schyzophrenics (spelling?) which makes them not trust in any enclosed space-so goes the story of countless public television articles on the subject. The second problem is they will not just stay the night, they tend to camp in one spot and are fare less transient than people imagine. This leads to territorial battles over "camping locations" or these models everyone keeps wanting to develop. How do you secure one of these units after you have moved in? How do you acquire residency? Who will manage them, police them, clean them, arbitrate disputes, etc., etc, etc. This kind of exercise is a band aid approach mainly promulgated by shallow thinkers. We need a systemic approach to the problem. What that might be is a mystery to me;however, salving our consience with the fact that we will have built a few of these structures in an attempt to provide housing for multi-millions is nothing more than self gratification. It will make no difference with resppect to the overall problem.
Ples
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