Shipping containers to house rough sleepers

Housing Justice, a faith charity which works with homeless people, is currently searching for land which it could use to set up the container schemes.

The idea was inspired by a recent visit to the Container City project in Trinity Buoy Wharf, which provides space for cultural events and 350 artists, as well as three live/work units.

Consultancy Urban Space Management devised the ‘cities’, which make use of unwanted shipping containers from Felixstowe.

The company’s 38 projects across the country mostly provide office space, but 20 containers on two schemes have so far been used as live/work units.

Sally Leigh, London co-ordinator for Housing Justice, said: ‘It’s great for us - if someone can give us land for a couple of years we can move them if someone wants the land back. If [a rough sleeper] doesn’t want to go into a shared house or a hostel, we can offer them their own self-contained flat.

‘For people who have had a turbulent lifestyle, it will help them to re-enter society.’

The charity wants to begin with a pilot project, housing between two and six people. It would pay for the containers to be set up, while a local church would help raise money for a deposit on the land and then support the scheme. The containers are designed to be as environmentally-friendly as possible, with triple glazing and a water collection system, and can cost between £15,000 and £25,000 each.

Once the containers are set up, the plan is for not for profit company Green Pastures to take out a mortgage and act as landlord, with tenants paying the mortgage through their housing benefits. Church volunteers will provide support for tenants and ensure they have regular social
contact. Councils could use the containers as an alternative to temporary bed and breakfast accommodation, Ms Leigh suggested.

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