Homeless shelters NO. Microhousing YES.

The whole theory of modern 'homeless shelters' is radically unsound. Its time to ditch it in favor of micro-apartments. VRT proposes a variation on the Shelter 2.0 concept, a shelter concept with the design constraint that every pat of a shelter should be fabricatable on a simple 3-Axis 4 x 8 CNC gantry milling machine. Shelter 2.0 is about providing emergency sheltering quickly fabricated locally and quickly assembled 'in situ', in areas hit by natural disaster so as to provide refugees basic protection from the elements. VRT has set for itself the inverse problem, the problem of reworking the mass shelter facility into a more intimate, more inviting, individual micro-apartment designed on a more human scale.

The Problem

Homeless Shelters are not home. Typically there are draconian rules governing shelters which work against rather toward helping rehabilitate the homeless. People must report to the shelters before a certain time early in the evening if they wish to spend the night. They have to leave the premises early in the morning. In many cases they cannot leave their possessions at the shelter. If their job requires they work late hours they are often denied space at shelters. The VICE has written a very informative piece on the subject.
Man is both a solitary and social creature. He does not do well in a continuously tribal, open, communal environment. He needs his own private, isolated space however small, to collect his thoughts and calm his nerves. This is all but impossible at most homeless shelters which are totally open plan design devoid of privacy, of the vitally important sense of refuge.
- The successful life is the organized life. The modern man needs a space with builtin bed, closet, desk, bookshelves, and bulk storage which he can lock up when he goes out into the world. Such concerns are simply never even considered in the typical homeless shelter. The homeless man is a problem to be managed not an individual and personality to be cultivated.

The Solution

Rework the homeless shelter from lumpen communal space to thoughtfully designed individual space.
Convert occupancy periods from intermittent to continuous.
Give occupants autonomy. Let them come and go freely as they would if they lived in a real home. VRT has designed a fully built-out micro shelter prototype for achieving these essential reforms with a footprint of 40 sq ft per resident, 50 sq ft including hallways.