One Paycheck or Step Away from Disaster?

Its Time to Think Outside the "Box"!

The Katrina victims are still displaced and some are still waiting for help. (Thank God for Brad and others!)

The inhumane situation of the chronic homeless won't simply go away by being ignored. And a new type of homeless population is growing - individuals and families living in their vehicles (if their lucky!) The saying that most people are only one paycheck away from being on the street has become a cold reality for hundreds of thousands all across this country every month. And now, "Acts of God" are making headlines and more homeless in the hundreds of thousands!

With Haiti hit by a massive quake (followed by many more) leaving thousands upon thousands homeless I believe its time to speak up and present alternative solutions.

In 1993 I became aware of Michael Reynolds who invented what he called "Earthships", a popular name for homes built out of used automobile tires, cans and bottles http://www.earthship.net/

Earthships use recycled tires (used automobile tires create tire hills or mountains that literally catch fire and burn for days releasing harmful particulates into our already fragile environment!) but also offer rare features; they can go 'off the grid' and make their own water, grow their own food and create their own electricity!

I also learned of Concrete Canvas. http://www.concretecanvas.org.uk/. This is a type of very strong but resilient cloth that arrives in a kit. About the size of a small car, you simply add water, and in less then a day you have a shelter that is hygienic, can house a family of four (or more) and is quaranteed to last at least ten years! And each house is much less then conventional housing. Each kit is less then $30K depending on size.

There is another company that makes amazing panels that build homes (or commercial buildings) that are very strong, mold, fire and water resistant and highly energy efficient. They can build very conventional appearing homes or industrial buildings. These panels were created by a man named Hoot Haddock and he called them Thermasave which are Structurally Insulated Panels (or SIPs). Visit the company here http://www.thermasave.us . If the mobile home industry would begin building mobile homes using Thermasave panels, they would not be prepared for the increased interest or sales of these new types of much stronger mobile homes which can be custom built.

These three alternative housing solutions can be applied to anyone that needs housing in a timely fashion and more efficiently meet the needs of the desperately homeless. Of these ingenious and timely ideas there are many more if we only start looking at alternatives versus the conventional ones which fall far short of what is demanded and totally inadequate for the numbers we are seeing these days of newly or chronically homeless.

The Sundance Projects' mission statement - hire the homeless/unemployed who build shelters/housing, create jobs and grow food for the homeless,etc. The same homeless would then help other homeless, jobless and on and on. Eventually to end the dependence on welfare or foodstamps or other social services.

Individuals would offer funding or foundation grants, donations or angel funding to make the Sundance Project a reality.

Is anyone listening?