Temporary Housing

2354 County Rd. 59 , Manvel, TX 77578

Did everyone getÂ their bets in on whatÂ the next use for thatÂ half-constructed cult-ready megamansionÂ off County Rd. 59Â was gonna be? Well, you’ve hadÂ plenty of years, and nowÂ time’s up: A group is currentlyÂ working with the city of Manvel to turn the 30-to-70-bedroom space into a veterans housing facility, with plans to house veterans’ families as well (and to offer services like PTSD treatment, readjustment counseling, art classes,Â and rides to VA appointments). The place is going by the name The Bailey House,Â after actor and PTSD-afflicted veteran Jimmy Stewart’s character in It’s a Wonderful Â Life.Â A meeting with the organization is in the works for Saturday morning,Â if you want more info (or want to help the place get set up and running, financially or otherwise).

Veteran Christa Mode, who’s spearheading the project, told the Chronicle’s Dana Guthrie this week that there won’t be a completion date floated until funding is taken care of. The building has also been roughed up by vandals since it last showed its face on HAR:

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Vetting Plans Near Pearland

77578, Manvel, Nonprofits

Quicklink

02/02/12 5:45pm

Atlanta Huts for Houston’s Homeless

by Swamplot

Temporary Housing

38 Comments

ATLANTA HUTS FOR HOUSTON’S HOMELESS At yesterday’s meeting new city council member Jack Christie distributed descriptions of prefab huts and “low riders” produced by an Atlanta organization called Mad Housers, suggesting that similar structures — privately funded — could be used in Houston as they are in Atlanta: as shelters for homeless people. â€œYou donâ€™t see the sleeping bags out there, the newspapers,â€ Christie told reporter Chris Moran afterward. â€œThese have a lock on the door so you have a sense of security.â€ The huts, which the Atlanta organization stresses are not intended as permanent housing, measure 6 ft. by 8 ft. with 12-ft. ceilings, and feature a sleeping loft, a locking door, and a wood-burning stove for heat and cooking. The “low riders” are 4 ft. by 8 ft. with only 4-ft. ceilings; they’re meant to allow residents to keep their shelters on the down-low, below vegetation lines or other screening objects where they wouldn’t want them to be too conspicuous. These smaller units come with a separate 4x4x4 storage box. [Houston Politics; Mad Housers] Photo: Mad Housers

Homelessness, Temporary Housing

Alternative Energy

01/09/09 11:12am

Pimp My FEMA Trailer

by Swamplot

Art, Attractions, Disaster Aftermath, Green Design and Development, Home Design, Manufactured Homes, Temporary Housing, Utilities

2 Comments

A few months after Ike, this tricked-out FEMA trailer rolls into Houston as . . . art?? Paul Villinski’s reworked 30-ft. Gulfstream “Cavalier” trailer, which took the artist 7 months to mod, will be parked outside the Rice University Art Gallery starting later this month.

Re-born as the Emergency Response Studio, the trailerâ€™s formaldehyde-ridden original materials are replaced by entirely â€œgreenâ€ technology and building materials, including recycled denim insulation, bamboo cabinetry, compact fluorescent lighting, reclaimed wood, and natural linoleum floor tiles made from linseed oil. It is powered by eight mammoth batteries that store energy generated by an array of solar panels and a â€œmicroâ€ wind turbine atop a 40-foot high mast. Not only practical, Emergency Response Studio is a visually engaging structure with an expansive work area featuring a wall section that lowers to become a deck. A ten-foot, elliptical geodesic skylight allows extra headroom and natural lighting in the work area. Though designed as an artistâ€™s studio and residence, Emergency Response Studio is an ingenious prototype for self-sufficient, solar-powered mobile housing.

Party on the back deck!

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77005, Alternative Energy, Art, Attractions, Green Design, Home Design, Manufactured Homes, Rice-University, Solar Power, Temporary Housing, Utilities

Apartments

07/22/08 3:42pm

Where To Put Magnolia Glen

by Swamplot

Eastwood, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Renovations, Temporary Housing

5 Comments

WHERE TO PUT MAGNOLIA GLEN If the city will cough up $4 million, developers will turn a former temporary UH dorm next to Fingers furniture on the north side of the Gulf Freeway into a 220-unit housing project for Houstonians who are currently homeless. Mayor White supports the Magnolia Glen project, but district councilman James Rodriguez and some residents of nearby Eastwood don’t like the location. “Former Councilman Gordon Quan, a member of the blue-ribbon commission, said . . . money helps determine where sites can be found. ‘People say, “Why don’t you put this in River Oaks or Memorial?” We couldn’t afford the land in River Oaks. But we are cognizant that these need to be spread around,’ he said.” [Houston Chronicle]