Micro homes are not a humane response to the homelessness crisis, writes Cynthia Griffith as part of our Social Housing Revival series.

Homelessness has reached a historic high in the United States of America, casting a long, formidable shadow over millions of low and middle-income workers. According to the United Nations, homeless people represent more than 2 per cent of the global population and an astonishing 1.6 billion people are enduring inadequate housing conditions worldwide.
Contrary to the misguided popular narrative that implies homelessness is the result of one or more personal flaws, studies continue to prove that it is housing, and specifically a lack of affordable housing, causing the current crisis.
It may seem that such a drastic housing problem deserves a cutting-edge design solution. That line of thinking usually manifests itself in various forms of micro home ? the basic idea being to provide some form of shelter at the lowest possible cost to cash-strapped public bodies. Things like weather-proof cardboard boxes, underground domes, pallet shelters, and insulated tents have all made their way to the drawing board.          'We shouldn't be reinventing the wheel, or rather the floorplan'
But these so-called solutions are neither permanent nor practical. They do not properly address the root causes of the homelessness problem. And they are not humane enough to address what is undoubtedly a humanitarian crisis. When it comes to building housing for th...