I noticed this in the news a few days ago and the gearhead in me got to thinking...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/03/10/homeless.tents/

http://www.edar.org/

They are raised cots similar to

http://kamprite.com/pages/products/original

They (edar units)look well built and probably weigh alot, but the wheels help.

Edited by jshann on 03/10/2009 13:00:57 MDT.

One aspect to the psychology of the current downturn is that we all knew we couldn't keep going as we were, but didn't know how to make a smooth transition to a less consumption-based style of living. So, along with the understandable nagging dread one feels now, there's an unspecific hope that what will eventually emerge will be better and saner than the way things used to be.

Some of the fascination of an article like this is that it suggests that the lower bounds of what's possible may not be so terrible; it's like looking over a bluff and thinking "I could jump down that far without getting hurt." Part of making the drop seem not so far is that even at the bottom human connection and care still operate. Maybe we can even do something to soften the landing, if not (hopefully) for ourselves, then for others. Something like 80% of the homeless are only homeless for a while--less than 6 months--and then never homeless again. For the remaining 20%, it seems to be the only adaptation to their interior and exterior circumstances they can manage.

The classical conservative fear is that if you make a bad situation less oppressive, people will have no incentive to leave it. The classical liberal hope is that if you make the situation less grinding, people will have more will and energy to rise above it. These tents are a wonderful example of the latter view.

I'm sure the unit cost will go down as production volume goes up, and production/design experience accumulates.

Edited by swimjay on 03/10/2009 13:51:41 MDT.

Now wait until the economy continues to tank, charitable contributions for shelters and food banks dry up, and the few overcrowded shelters we have in the Los Angeles area recieve less and less funding. I hope there are there tens of thousands of these tents ready to go; that's only to cover the homeless we already have in L.A....and those numbers are only going to increase.
Anyone been to Skid Row lately? I cycle through the area regularly and have volunteered there off and on for years.
On a given day you've got ~10,000 peoeple living on the streets...not your typical media "bum" stereotypes- men, women, children, and the elderly.

I haven't seen any of these tents. I do see quite a few from Wal-Mart, though.

Crazy...all this within a good walk from Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive

Band-aids are good.
Making someone's situation a little bit better is good.
But band-aids are just band-aids. They will not change any of the fundamental issues that create the problem in the first place.