Innovations in the Homelessness Crisis
Walking down the streets of Los Angeles, one might notice that in a booming city like L.A., there really isn’t much open space to really sit down and enjoy your surroundings. Besides entering open green areas, like Echo Park, Griffith Park, etc. you will probably find yourself surrounded by tall skyscrapers and narrow streets filled with cars honking left and right through traffic. With land becoming increasingly scarce, and populations exponentially rising, the housing crisis is in trouble. We must search for creative solutions to tackle the rises in homelessness.
One specific example is the Chandler Boulevard Bridge Home Village designed by the Lehrer Architects and the city’s Bureau of Engineering and overseen by the Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission. On February 2 of this year, Los Angeles opened up this tiny home village for the homeless population. These 40 tiny homes were built in just 13 weeks and each of the 64 square foot units can hold up to two people and is an amazing step towards combating the city’s biggest crises. Each tiny home is equipped with two beds, air-conditioning, windows, a small desk, electrical outlets, and a front door. Bathrooms in the village are shared and the units are arranged around a forked path that also has a picnic area and a dog run. The Chandler Village cost $4.4 million to build and the land where it was built upon was rendered useless because of its awkward shape. Lehrer Architects also worked on another 103 tiny home project in Alexandria Park in North Hollywood and they are also hard at work with a 39 units project in Echo Park. Case management, mental health, housing navigation, job training, and placement services are also provided. The homes were built by Pallet, a company based in Everett, Washington and what’s especially unique about the Chandler village is that it has an extremely striking color palette. Lehrer emphasized that color is fundamental and not a trivial concept. The company carefully selected specific shades of red, white, blue, yellow, and orange to create a vibrant community and uplift the residents. A common concern with homeless shelters is the negative connotations it can give off to the surrounding neighborhoods; but, with the design of Chandler village, it did the exact opposite and enhanced the neighborhood. With a specific design in mind, Lehrer said “shelters of the same color were grouped together to create a coherent sense of a village. Meanwhile, the colors used on the grounds aimed to give each shelter individuality.”
Chandler Boulevard Bridge Home Village
Another design worth mentioning is the Keret House, which is a structure and art installation in Warsaw, Poland. Labeled as the world’s skinniest house, the Keret House was designed by architect Jakub Szczęsny. Through an email correspondence, the exact dimensions of the Keret House are: “The height is 1050 cm, the width (measured from the exterior) is 126 cm in the widest point 76 cm in the narrowest” (Dom Kereta). The innovation of this structure is extraordinary because the tiny home fits in the space between buildings and is an attempt to tame void. The structure itself was created during the Wola Art 2009 Festival and it sought to explore impossible architecture with the theme of possible fiction. Indulging the concept and design of the Keret House and applying it to the homelessness crisis, more homes can possibly be constructed.
Images of the Keret House
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About the Author:
Jacqueline Chen is a sophomore majoring in civil engineering at USC and will be serving as the co-Director of Resources for Trojan Shelter in the 2021-2022 season. On campus, she is involved in various other organizations such as ASCE Concrete Canoe, CMAA, and KIUEL. She enjoys spontaneous adventures and is always open to trying new things!