homeless. The city of Buena Park has decided to re-purpose freight containers to use them as homeless shelters, rather than turning warehouses into shelters like other cities are doing. The city hired Crate Modular, a company that specializes in container conversions, to build a facility for about 150 people and Griffin Structures to manage the project. The facility will be located several blocks north of Knott’s Berry Farm. Dustin Alamo, vice president of strategic services at Griffin Structures, stated the following regarding the project
Warehouses in aging industrial parks generally have old wiring and old pipes. They require a lot of renovation. Shipping containers are a very economical product that can be erected within a short time frame. The beauty of shipping containers is that you don’t have to wait for the tractors to leave before you start building – you can simultaneously grade the land and construct the framework.
The Buena Park project is expected to be completed by the end of this year and will serve 13 north Orange County cities. The city bought a vacant furniture store on Lincoln Avenue for $3.6 million last October to serve as a homeless shelter, but residents complained it was close to an elementary school. The property on Lincoln will now be used for affordable housing now that the other location north of Knott’s Berry Farm will serve as the site for the homeless shelter. The containers will arrive to the site with plumbing and electrical wiring ready to be connected. We will have to wait and see if the planned homeless shelter is successful and if other cities decide to try this approach as well.
