Shipping Containers for the Homeless

(St. Augustine, Florida) Former St. Augustine Mayor and current City Commissioner, George Gardner, has an idea to purchase used shipping containers for the homeless.

"Because of the market and the international economy, used shipping containers are now being stacked up all over the place," Gardner said. "And I'm told they're very inexpensive to buy."

Seeing a need for transitional housing for homeless in his city and county, Gardner is kicking around the idea of using containers as homeless shelters.

Gardner has no suggestions on where they should be put nor how they will be paid for other than "possibly private and public funds." Notably, used shipping containers come without electricity or running water.

It's commendable that St. Johns County is taking action to help the homeless, however, it's also naive. Like Volusia county to the south, which wants to construct a homeless-only village, St. Johns County can expect to magnetically draw new vagrants to the vicinity, ready to take advantage of the generosity.