Hexayurts for homeless Californians - anybody on the ground with contacts?

[Vinay Gupta (Hexayurt Shelter Project)]

Hi everybody, long time no hear.

I'm having a bit of a think about doing a hexayurt deployment in California in one of the pre-existing tent cities there. Very early stage, not even checking feasibility yet, but just putting out some feelers - is anybody on the ground in California and familiar with how these tent cities work, and able to advise on how we might practically go about augmenting their tents with something a bit more habitable.

I'm really looking for boots-on-the-ground insight. We did a very little bit of this in London about 10 years ago, very successfully, but local conditions are king on this kind of work...

Any advice or helpers?

V>

-- 

Vinay Gupta    hexa...@gmail.com   http://re.silience.com

Free Science and Engineering in the Global Public Interest

UK Cell : +44 (0)7500 895568 Twitter/Skype/Gtalk: hexayurt

"In the midst of winter,  I finally learned that there was 

        in me an invincible summer" - Albert Camus

[Hal Muskat]

Sf Coalition on Homeless: 

http://www.cohsf.org/

https://www.facebook.com/CoalitionOnHomelessness/

Don’t know if this could be helpful

https://sfhomeless.wikia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Homeless_Resource

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hexayurt" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hexayurt+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hexayurt/CAEgKDq5k22eOwut5Pis%3DeFwt6BU7t1mYv%2BvERAHv_QxtCHBBVg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Dan March]

Hey Guys ~

While I do think that the regular hexayurt polyiso panel design works well for Burning Man, I have to confess being a bit nervous about its being used for general homelessness on the streets.  First of all, there is fire risk that we're able to communicate to Burners.  Among other things, that translates into "no cooking" or other open fire in such a yurt.  It's hard for me to imagine that not happening in rain/winter on the street. 

Some city/large org sponsorship of areas such as secure outdoor parking have appeared, often with showers & toilets.  If these also had communal kitchens and the city/org would set some sort of standard for a yurt (which might not be that hard since they have to deal with tents and sorting any liability re. that anyway. There may also be issues about a possible/eventual waste stream from the yurts since at least the Burner design is so temporary.  So perhaps such entities would be best to work with to get agreement on a design envelope at least acknowledging these and any other issues so we're all clear on this kind of thing.

Best,

Dan

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hexayurt/D5475540-3D2E-4D13-9E38-2DCFE304B0AE%40rainbowpuddle.com.

[Cabinz Admin]

agree re fire risk, but the materials used in tent cities are a fire risk anyway ie tent / tarps 

to reduce fire risk , Could you get clearance stock  / grade b or even used of the metal sided kingspan or other  US brand like we have been working on on other thread I started here

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/hexayurt/WWoBjoC3_fg

. I appreciate this then has to be screwed / bolted together

Sf Coalition on Homeless: 

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hexa...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hexayurt/CAEgKDq5k22eOwut5Pis%3DeFwt6BU7t1mYv%2BvERAHv_QxtCHBBVg%40mail.gmail.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hexayurt" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hexa...@googlegroups.com.

[Cabinz Admin]

Vinay do you have any links / pics/ info on the work on this you mentioned in london 10 yrs ago ? could pass this to RORA / Big issue  / Shelter  .

Happy to contribute if you wanted to something like this in Uk , but as mentioned I would suggest metal sandwich panels due to weather etc . We can donate these for free in uk as well as fittings.

We'll be tackling the roof seams on our prototype in next 2 weeks. www.cabinznet.blogspot.com/2020/07/experiments-in-prototyping-6-hexayurt.html

[Dan March]

I think all this noodling over homeless solutions gets political real fast... like the moment any kind of organization or "meaningful" scale presents itself.  It seems to me that this, at the very least, means coordinating with some kind of larger body - such as a larger organization already assisting with domicile-related matters, a disaster-related outfit or government at some level. 

Personally, I'd like to see a well thought out path to a good homelessness solution and contribute where I can to something that will grow organically and rapidly while wasting as little material and human resources as possible.  SIPs do seem like they'd fit into such a plan.  I wonder what it would be like to consider making them if none were available/economic.  I wonder about designing a flexible transformative capability into them - allowing them to be used initially, say, in temporary situations and later gracefully re-used for more permanent structures.

When I got orders for large numbers of hexayurts a few years ago, I set up a very simple manufacturing facility - hiring and training a few guys who were probably pretty much like many homeless types - addiction problems, some prior incarceration, few skills... However, with good simple set-ups and training their first-off yurt (with bevel cuts etc.) was +- 1/16" accuracy on the whole assembled, taped polyiso structure.  Could solve a couple of problems at once...

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hexayurt+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hexayurt/32bcc101-2d75-427b-b802-c70b7c1d1e36o%40googlegroups.com.

[Scott McNeil]

In the San Francisco Bay Area the main issue is various government agencies and their response to what they view as a "permanent or hazardous structure" vs. a tent or vehicle.

Shelters that are deemed a permanent or hazardous structures are typically torn down with the pieces and contents getting hauled away in a large dumpster. Meanwhile tents, trailers and RVs usually aren't viewed by local or state government agencies as permanent or hazardous structures and often survive longer.

Hexayurts are awesome, but due to the aforementioned government policies are probably not good options. Packing up a tent or getting a tow to the next living spot is much easier than watching your shelter and belongings being destroyed because one has no way of transporting it.

Speaking of structures, some local cities are using prefabricated structures to shelter the houseless:
https://youtu.be/XEeyceoiW7A

Speaking of tents, the weatherHYDE, designed and sold by the nonprofit BillionBricks, is a relatively pricey but quite useful shelter.
https://www.billionbricks.org/weatherhyde

[Cabinz Admin]

Yes, I've seen sililar issues with Elvis' Tiny houses on wheels in LA. Perhaps if Hexayurts could be installed in empty commercial buildings or private back yards for the homeless successfully then the Gov may relent eventually.

We worked on designing partitions for a uk council homeless hub . HA.  One design issue,was violent homeless folks could damage walls, so our metal lined kingspan panels had to be lined with mgo board to avoid dents. Similarly they could easily smash non metal pir sheets.

A major cost for uk mental health hospitals was punch or kick smashed plasterboard, so they were delighted when MGo Fire Board arrived.