Affordable Housing Built From Trash

5 September 2009 - 7:00am

Dan Phillips' company Phoenix Commotion builds homes from discarded materials for low-income individuals in Huntsville, Alabama.

"Freed by necessity from what he calls the 'tyranny of the two-by-four and four-by-eight,' common sizes for studs and sheets of plywood, respectively, Mr. Phillips makes use of end cuts discarded by other builders — he nails them together into sturdy and visually interesting grids."

"'It doesn't matter if you don't have a complete set of anything because repetition creates pattern, repetition creates pattern, repetition creates pattern,' said Mr. Phillips, who is slight and sinewy with a long gray ponytail and bushy mustache."

Full Story: One Man’s Trash
Source: The New York Times, September 3, 2009
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Even if the report overestimates the costs by a factor of two and underestimates the tax-benefit by a similar amount, the conclusion would be pretty much the same: destination resorts cost local government and taxpayers money.