A fire Monday morning incinerated several tiny-home shelters at Oakland, California-run transitional-housing site at E. 12th Street and 2nd Avenue, across from Lake Merritt.
Fire is just one of the problems I’ve been worried about when cities and nonprofits are allowed to circumvent state and federal building codes in their rush to put up these homeless villages.
According to witnesses on the scene, the shelters, produced by Pallet shelters, are made of plastic and aluminum. They’re designed to be assembled quickly and easily, for use as emergency shelters.
This site is the first in Oakland to use the structures, and they’ve been widely seen as improvements on the sheds used at the similar “Community Cabin” sites, because they have heating and can house individuals, unlike the cabins, which residents often have to share with strangers.
“Now we know these things melt really fast,” said Lara Tannenbaum, Oakland’s Human Services manager, observing the piles of charred belongings Monday. She said the city will put the displaced residents up in hotels for now.
At least one other city—Redlands, California—reconsidered its use of Pallet shelters after a fire there destroyed 19 of the sheds. That fire was started by a resident using a hotplate, according to news reports.
CLICK HERE to read the entire OaklandSide article
Related Articles:
- Are Nonprofits Skirting Local Zoning And Codes When Setting Up Homeless Villages?
- Here’s An Idea: Let’s House The Homeless In Garden Sheds In The Winter
- Enough Already With The Garden Shed Homeless Villages
Gary Fleisher is the Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and Offsite Builder. Email at [email protected]
To begin receiving my twice-weekly free newsletter with offsite and modular construction news, views, polls and videos, simply subscribe in the form below.
