SHANTYTOWN, USA
We see people sleeping on the streets, in the parks, on benches. It is hard to enjoy any sense of well-being while people are suffering around us. We go into our warm houses, taking warm showers, eating warm food and in the back of our minds we know that just a few streets down there are people who are cold with no food.
We see people sleeping on the streets, in the parks, on benches. It is hard to enjoy any sense of well-being while people are suffering around us. We go into our warm houses, taking warm showers, eating warm food and in the back of our minds we know that just a few streets down there are people who are cold with no food.
In the United States 17% of the population is living on the streets, and as a world statistic 150 million are wandering homeless in the world’s cities. The United States isn’t even the highest number per population of homelessness - US is 11th with Australia, Canada, Germany, and Sweden leading in numbers. This seems peculiar. Why isn’t homelessness more prevalent in poorer countries? What do these countries have in common? Well, I’m not sure about Australia and Canada, but when I think of Germany and Sweden, I think up-tight and neat. No sloppy slummy shacks are going to encircle Berlin or Stockholm. And if you take US states individually, California has the highest number of homeless whereas North Dakota and Alabama have the least. What is going on here? Are all the homeless wanting to lay in the streets of sunny California? Alabama has sun.
Versus
The problem is entangled in expectations of living standards, building codes, and criminalizing homelessness. Basically, we don’t want to see funky shacks. Funky shacks are in Mexico and India not outside of San Jose. When we do initiate low-income housing, it must adhere to strict building codes of 8 ft. ceilings with 7 ft doors, running water with sewer hook up for bathrooms and kitchens, and a couch and TV. Come on, people can’t live without a couch and TV!
There have been some emergency homes built out of shipping containers, at $8,000 to $20.000 apiece. Tiny homes have been built but they range from $10,000 to $60,000. Yurts have been made starting at $5,000 - but we are talking poverty here. The cities are footing the bill for these homes that only shelter a few people from the thousands that need homes.
If cities or countries want to spend minimal money and solve the problem, they could just offer free dumpsters, water stations, showers, porto-podites, and a piece of unused land for people to build their own homes. We need shanty towns! Abolish building codes for emergency shelters and teach people to build with mud and straw. This is a very cheap, environmental way of building. If you look at old Europe of the Middle East, whole communities were built this way. People will scavenge and build out of garbage, however, and all we need to do is allow it. Decriminalizing poverty is the way to start helping the poor.
Mud buildings that have stood for centuries.
We must get over our preconceptions of tidy living standards. India had shanty towns as far as the eye can see and as our world population explodes to over 8 billion, the US, Canada, and Europe are going to have shanty towns. Even though it is unsavory, it is a home for the poor and allows people to build communities. Communities often take care of themselves far better than any overbearing hand of the state and if the governments want to help out, shanty towns are easier to access for giving out aid. It’s not perfect but it’s better than no home at all.
