Plans for young homeless people in East London to live in converted shipping containers have been proposed recently. Headed by the Charity Forest YMCA, Chief Executive Tim Pain said that the key issue was finding an affordable home for young people.
The containers which cost £20,000 each will offer affordable living to young people who will have to pay about £75 a week. They will not be required to pay a deposit. Costs for purchasing and converting the container are hoped to be raised through charity donations and government funding.
A trial project has been run in Leytonstone and Walthamstow over the past year, which has been a great success. Whilst permanent planning permission is being applied for, the scheme is using car parks to trial the containers. So far about 120 people are on the list to get a container home.
One of the current residents of the scheme, Kino Hines has said that the containers are better and cheaper than the shared accommodation he is used to.