But he’s not completely sold on it; he wonders whether communities will be trained to use the technology and keep the printer to continue to build houses after the companies have moved on. This, he said, will determine "whether they’re just providing housing to people or whether they’re also providing skills or training.”

The entire home is printed seamlessly and is sustainable, produces nearly zero waste, and is resilient.”

Built out of lightweight aluminum, it includes a backup generator.

With conventional building techniques, erecting a simple home can take months and cost tens of thousands of dollars. But New Story co-founder Matthew Marshall told NBC News MACH in an email that with help from a giant 3D printer called “The Vulcan,” a basic three-room, one-story concrete home can be built in a single day — and for a cost of only $4,000.

Three-dimensional printing has changed the way we make everything from dental appliances to jet engines, and soon it could be used to make low-cost houses for some of the world’s 150 million homeless people.

Showers and shared kitchen facilities are in a warm, permanent building, rather than the canvas tents used sixty miles away in Seattle. Every tiny house has a porch and a bathroom. As an equal proportion of the development’s total price tag, each house costs $88,000; on an individual basis they are $19,000 per unit.

They will cost $60,000 per unit rather than $3,300, as at Heben’s inaugural project, yet they will still only be a third of the price of conventional affordable housing in Eugene.These sorts of comparatively comfortable tiny homes already exist at Quixote village in Olympia, the state capital of Washington. Some view it as the gold-standard for tiny house communities. Ten of the original 30 residents who moved in three years ago have stayed, and some have signaled they want to remain for good. Quixote “is almost the pinnacle of their aspirations”, said Alan, 66, a resident for two years.

But she conceded there was a shortage of places where people could move. Seattle’s lack of affordable housing has contributed to what Lee calls the worst homelessness crisis of her 25-year career.

The city insists they are only a stopgap solution, and the ultimate goal is to move tiny-house residents into permanent homes. Lee said she has achieved this with 161 people.

Tiny houses costing a mere $2,200 would be exempt from regulations governing residential buildings.

nonprofit that supports the camp raised enough money to connect the huts to electricity, bringing heat and light. They felt the money would be better spent on constructing more tiny houses, because homeless people inquire about vacancies on a daily basis.

She advised against funding tiny house encampments, arguing the money would be better spent constructing permanent affordable housing. The city is going ahead with them regardless.

the creation of shantytowns.

Some of America’s most liberal cities have in recent years shifted from banning and clearing unauthorized homeless settlements, based in part on the argument they were unfit for habitation, to sanctioning and even funding camps that skirt building regulations thanks to loopholes or special dispensation.

Wooden cabins euphemistically referred to as tiny houses are increasingly viewed as a quick and cheap solution to homelessness and, with minimal public debate, they are mushrooming across the country.

Until recently the cabins lacked heating or electricity, and the children who live there – currently 11 of its 67 inhabitants – had to use flashlights to read their schoolbooks

both cities that have resisted efforts for city-approved communities of tiny houses, activists have been distributing homemade varieties in unsanctioned acts of guerilla philanthropy.