Location Transport - why don't they send old shipping containers to Haiti to make housing?

why don't they send old shipping containers to Haiti to make housing?

why don't they send old shipping containers to Haiti to make quick housing. much better than people have there now. http://weburbanist.com/2008/05/26/cargo-container-homes-and-offices/ http://boingboing.net/2007/10/13/shipping-containers.html

Public Comments

They should. Alot safer that the homes they lived in before. I also worked on a project for University of Arizona, they made self contained green houses, now would be the time to create them. They would cost about 50k to make.
Charities can do all sorts of things including what you have suggested. Governments should stay out of it.
thats a terrible idea, whats going to happend is gangs or the UN will steal them from the poor and sell them elsewhere haiti needs a stable government and economic development, not charity
What a fantastic idea!
Right now, with the port destroyed, they can't even unload containers and if they did there are no utilities services available.
I already wrote an email about that to a company that brokers in them specifically for converting into housing. They cost about $1000 used here and there is a HUGE surplus of them because of the trade deficit with China. Haitians are also very skilled at welding so they could take the containers as is and convert them into housing. It could even be an industry for re-export since the containers would be ready to ship when they were done. It would cost another $2000 per unit to ship them but they could be filled with other goods and raw materials to be reworked to deal with the costs. Bear in mind though that $3000 a house would be a lot for most Haitians. A huge plus would be that they are inheirently earthquake proof and that would be a big selling point there.
Because with the price of scrap metal being so high they are all going to China. Masha.
It sounds good, but it's not really feasible in Haiti, and here's why. Steel is a valuable commodity in Haiti, they would likely be cut up for hard cash. Haitians dig their own limestone and mix their own concrete, it's the cheapest way to build there. Few could afford the luxury of a steel container.
your right they should