Economic, Scaleable, Portable, Humane Housing on Empty Lots To house many people quickly and humanely for the least amount of money, our best option is to use portable modular housing placed onto lots that the city has leased from a landowner or that is already owned by government that we temporarily repurpose.
Because it is very expensive to buy real estate, it is far more affordable for us to pay a per person rate for making land available. Take for example a rate of $100 per person per month. That is $800 a month for eight on a standard residential lot, plus City covers insurance with its own policy.
Total cost to build and deliver housing for eight is $110,000. 18 month lease equals $14,400. Hookup to electricity, water, sewer $10,000 (Can't we lower hookup as part of streamlined process for portable temporary housing?).
So, on average, a new lease is signed each 18 months, the housing is moved about a mile away, reconnected to utilities there, then reinhabited.
Win-Win for Developers and the Unhoused: Empty Land Put to Use Unhoused people get private or shared rooms, a bathroom with shower shared with one other room, heating, air conditioning, and access to shared kitchen/wash/living space. They get stability of one location for over one year at a time.
Developers regularly sit on empty lots for over a year while waiting for permits to break ground, costing them money. Under the plan they receive liability insurance from the City and are paid $100 per person per month, meaning $9,600 a year for a residential lot housing eight. For a double lot in Hollywood housing twenty four people, the landowner receives $28,800 a year.
Where do people go when the developer gets permits? People who still require housing will move to another lot that has recently become available through contracting with the City. Not far away a building will have burned, another condemned, and another bought up by a developer seeking to tear down the existing structure. With portable housing, we simply pick it up, put it on a truck, and move it to a new location where it is attached to water, sewer, and electricity and quickly reinhabited.