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Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?

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Re: Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?

#21

Post by jnwatson »

somid3 wrote: post #3

I’m fking tired of seeing human beings sleeping in tents on sidewalks. I don’t care what they did, what drugs they’ve used, who/what they are escaping, many of them are regular people who weee eaten and chewed up by the machine. We have to engineer a dignified a solution. I make about $1mil a year and I can’t believe I haven’t done this sooner.

We have solutions for this. It is called public housing.

My grandmother was homeless until a social worker found her on the streets and got her an apartment (in D.C.). The logistics are actually quite simple.

$5K houses aren't the main solution. We need inexpensive medium to high density apartments.

I will admit in the Bay area, adding a $5K house to every SFH lot might help a bit. In reality it would be $5K house + at least the same in permitting.

Re: Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?

#22

Post by steelstraw »

antonpirker wrote: post #6
somid3 wrote: post #3

I’m fking tired of seeing human beings sleeping in tents on sidewalks. I don’t care what they did, what drugs they’ve used, who/what they are escaping, many of them are regular people who weee eaten and chewed up by the machine. We have to engineer a dignified a solution. I make about $1mil a year and I can’t believe I haven’t done this sooner.

I live in Austria and we do not have people living in tents on the sidewalk anywhere. (But we have some homeless people) Part of this is probably due to the fact that I pay 48% of everything I earn in taxes and I am totally fine with it!

In San Francisco some pay over 50% in taxes. It's not that the government doesn't have enough money. They have a spending problem and always find new ways to waste it on the homeless industrial complex with very little result. In fact they found a way to spend over $60,000 per tent[1]. Not per home, per tent!

1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/S-F-officials-w...

Re: Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?

#23

Post by new_guy »

> Arnold Schwarzenegger donated $250,000 to build 25 tiny homes intended for homeless vets in West LA. The homes were turned over a few days before Christmas.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/rnmtpn/arnold_...

There's some good details there about people already doing this kind of good work.

Re: Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?

#24

Post by IshKebab »

MivLives wrote: post #19
hirundo wrote: post #8

A beat up commodity shipping container cost me $3,300. If you can deliver a functional home without taking a loss for $1,700 more, you're a genius and a wizard.

Those aren't insulated at all. You need to spend a bunch more getting that into shape to live in.

That's his point.

Re: Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?

#25

Post by michaelt »

throwaway3b03 wrote: post #18

I honestly don't think that the "physical structure" or actual shelter is the main problem w.r.t. homelessness. The land itself is a lot more expensive. And the legal framework. Where I am right now, it's illegal to sleep in a car for instance. And similarly, a lot of alternative housing solutions are highly burocratized, require lots of permits etc. Almost like politicians are protecting their real estate investment…

This is the case in my country - any land within commuting distance of a middle class job that one can build a house on costs a fortune.

And shipping rough sleepers to parts of the country with low housing costs doesn’t seem politically popular.

Re: Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?

#27

Post by somid3 »

new_guy wrote: post #23

> Arnold Schwarzenegger donated $250,000 to build 25 tiny homes intended for homeless vets in West LA. The homes were turned over a few days before Christmas. https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/rnmtpn/arnold_... There's some good details there about people already doing this kind of good work.

Yes, and that was at $10k per home. It doesn’t need to be that expensive. And companies and celebrities would gladly sponsor this if there was a viable at scale solution

Re: Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?

#29

Post by hazza_n_dazza »

steelstraw wrote: post #22
antonpirker wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Austria and we do not have people living in tents on the sidewalk anywhere. (But we have some homeless people) Part of this is probably due to the fact that I pay 48% of everything I earn in taxes and I am totally fine with it!

In San Francisco some pay over 50% in taxes. It's not that the government doesn't have enough money. They have a spending problem and always find new ways to waste it on the homeless industrial complex with very little result. In fact they found a way to spend over $60,000 per tent[1]. Not per home, per tent! 1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/S-F-officials-w...

You don't pay more than 50% tax. No-one in SF does. THe article linked explains how it costs the gov so much to 'house'the homeless.

Re: Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?

#30

Post by bushbaba »

jnwatson wrote: post #21
somid3 wrote: post #3

I’m fking tired of seeing human beings sleeping in tents on sidewalks. I don’t care what they did, what drugs they’ve used, who/what they are escaping, many of them are regular people who weee eaten and chewed up by the machine. We have to engineer a dignified a solution. I make about $1mil a year and I can’t believe I haven’t done this sooner.

We have solutions for this. It is called public housing. My grandmother was homeless until a social worker found her on the streets and got her an apartment (in D.C.). The logistics are actually quite simple. $5K houses aren't the main solution. We need inexpensive medium to high density apartments. I will admit in the Bay area, adding a $5K house to every SFH lot might help a bit. In reality it would be $5K house +…

Permits are more like 20-40k in California. An ADU is roughly 150-200k after permits. That’s not including land cost.
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