A recent Harvard grad (I don't mean to put immediate generalizations in your mind by starting this post with that phrase), Rakhi Mehra is the tip-off I received for this innovation. She is a co-founder of a for-profit company called mHS, or micro Home Solutions.
Micro Home Solutions is designed to "provide hi-design-low-cost home solutions to the urban poor on their own terms" (quote taken from website). The project is beginning in India in New Delhi, but has dreams of expanding. I hope they do.
Their current projects include Design Home Solution (technical assistance/finance to low income households), urban housing, eco tourism (partnered with Due North), and a modular shelter project for temporary and permanent shelter for the homeless and harsh weather conditions.
The idea of involving individuals in the process of housing projects is immensely appealing to the social scientist wthin me. Cookie-cutter housing projects attempting to update slums and poor areas are socially catastrophic in several ways as it does not remove previous stigma or give the individuals living there a sense of pride or ownership. Micro Home Solutions works to provide shelter for all, but not necessarily for free. This is phenomenal.
No comments:
Post a Comment