Shipping container houses - Faster and cheaper alternative for emergency housing
After a temporary home while building your dream house? Two shipping containers joined together can make a comfortable home.
The Australian government plans to build thousands of pre-fabricated houses in remote areas so public sector workers are not forced work overseas due to lack of housing.
"they can be built in one place and quickly delivered, completely wind and water-tight, ready to move in," said Jeff Wright from PCS "We are able to find large areas of land where there is a high housing need, like in rural Western Australia, and drop off an accommodation unit at an affordable price."
The shipping container homes could be put up on spare land in city centers across the country.
Our container homes will be located near major infrastructure and could be over railway stations or railway lines, people will be located where they need to be. The homes could meet changes in housing demand at a quicker pace than traditional development as we cannot actually meet the housing demand if we try and build houses as we have done in the past.
There is a change in regards to innovation, improving the quality of people's homes and building them faster and more cheaply.
Also, a radical plan to solve Queensland's flood crisis by putting shipping containers in caravan parks has infuriated social welfare organisations.
PCS Australia's prominent urban planner Debra Mills said shipping containers could be located on public land or in caravan parks, providing cheaper housing for those locked out of the property market.
"Not all people will agree with this proposal, but people don't seem to understand there are others who simply can't afford accommodation and we urgently need to find an alternative," Mrs Mills said. "Many social welfare groups don't seem to understand basic economics, or that if you don't have any shelter you're sleeping in the rain."
The 20' shipping containers cost about $3500 but Mrs Mills said the technology to transform them into homes would need to be significantly improved for them to compete with other relocatable housing.
The proposal comes less than a week after bleak warnings from the Housing Industry Association that Australia faces an undersupply of 1 million homes over the next five years.
Brisbane Council of Social Service spokesman said the plan would lead to urban ghettos and entrench poverty. "There is real concern that shipping containers, even if they are well designed, would lead to a concentration of disadvantage," he said. "When most people think of the shipping containers, they think of people smuggling or asylum seekers."
They also said said the proposal ignored the structural and social issues associated with declining housing affordability.
PCS Shipping Containers, well advanced with plans to convert containers into homes, said a dwelling made from containers would be up to 50% cheaper than a conventional house.
About the Author
Port Shipping Containers have been developing homes from shipping containers for the last decade. For more information on there shipping containers for sale visit there website.