Some Affordable Housing Builders Thinking 'Inside The Box'

"Used to import almost everything we use and wear, shipping containers are now a new concept in affordable housing.

The containers are claimed to be hurricane-proof, fire-resistant, and there's not a termite to be found.

With America exporting so little, shipping companies face the dilemma of what to do with these 32,000-pound containers. Increasingly too expensive to ship back overseas empty, these steel boxes — which can be as large as 20-by-48-feet — are stacked high, sitting in ports around the country. There are as many as 300,000 containers, by some estimates. And they're cheap — ranging from $500 to $2,000 for an unused container.

In hurricane-prone Florida, more container houses are going up, though when finished you'd hardly know they're different from any other house."