Homelessness is on the rise across the United States.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, more than 50% of individuals experiencing homelessness were unsheltered, meaning they didn’t have a safe place to sleep at night. 

To help people get back on their feet, the first thing they need is that: A safe, dignified place to call their own — even if it’s only temporary.

Shipping container housing has been a strategy employed across various cities, allowing developers to build more efficiently and sustainability, cutting red tape, so people can have a place to stay immediately. 

One of the latest cities to use this tactic is Glendale, Arizona. Family Promise of Greater Phoenix, a nonprofit that supports unhoused Arizonans, is currently constructing a new transitional housing project called Legacy Village.

The small neighborhood will consist of six units that will be fully furnished and assembled from shipping containers brought from overseas. It sits on land donated by a local congregation, First Christian Church.

“We’re using shipping containers because it’s a cheap and easy way to throw up homes for people in need to live in as quickly as possible,” the nonprofit’s CEO, Ted Taylor, told KTAR News. “Not only do we pay less for the containers, but they’re manufactured in a factory environment.”

The simplicity of shipping containers allows developers to build on a speedier schedule compared to traditional construction. The container units are assembled onsite, saving time and money.

The homes themselves cost “just barely over $100,000,” Taylor said.

Each unit, built by the RPM Team, will consist of two shipping containers, totaling about 650 square feet. The interiors of the containers are stripped and refurbished and then fully furnished with furniture and appliances. The units also have windows and ventilation for airflow, as well as solar panels for electricity.

Once assembled, the village will serve as a transitional housing option, which provides unsheltered residents a place to get back on their feet before finding something more permanent.

“We are in the highest eviction zip code in the state of Arizona. 85301 in Glendale,” Taylor told FOX10 News. “We chose that zip code because we want to prove it’s going to work there.”

Nine families can live in the village at a given time.

“The waiting list, right now for families here in the Valley, is over 360 families. 360 families,” Taylor told FOX10. “This is crazy. I have never seen a number this high.”

While it seems like an uphill challenge to house that many families, the process is designed to equip people with the tools they need to find a more sustainable, long-term situation, and give the next family in need housing as soon as possible.

All residents will need to be employed and will undergo financial literacy education, according to Taylor. Staff members will support residents in ensuring they can save money to “graduate” into permanent housing.

Legacy Village tenants will still pay rent, but through a “sliding scale” system, according to Taylor.

“Most families, when they come out of shelter, have very limited resources, so we limit the cost of the units to them,” Taylor told KTAR. “They’ve got to save as much money as possible.”

“By teaching people how to manage cash in the future, we teach them how to manage life,” he added, to FOX10. “That’s how we keep these families out of trouble.”

Legacy Village is still in construction stages — including a communal gathering space shaded by a pergola — Family Promise hopes to be complete with the project any day now. In November 2024, Phoenix New Times reported that the project was 85% complete.

“Even though it’s made out of containers that some people may think are rough, it’s going to be a beautiful space with a beautiful turf,” Taylor told KTAR. 

“It’s going to be a place where children can run and play and not worry. That’s a part of why we do this. We want the families to not only be together; we want them to feel safe.”

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Header image courtesy of RPM Team