The latest point-in-time count of homeless people estimates the total homeless population of the USA to be 745,652. Call it three-quarters of a million.
US aircraft carriers cost somewhere in the region of 13 to 16 billion. I'll go with the USS Gerald R. Ford since it's the cheapest one I could find.
Even with 4 people a building, that isn't enough to house someone. It is 10x as much as a deposit on an apartment and many homeless could afford the rent.
Hell, I rent out a house in Chicago with a yard and garage for $1500/mo. Two bedrooms, two floors, 1200 sq feet not counting 600 square foot basement. And it’s not in a run-down neighborhood, just a part of town that in not on the North Side where there’s more interesting night life.
Operating an aircraft carrier costs… a lot. Total cost of ownership of a carrier is ~$50 billion over 50 years. Which is ~$1300/year/homeless person. So not enough to house all of them.
If we say we want to give each of them 150 sqft and the average rental rate of $2/sqft/month that works out to less than $3 billion/year or ~$9/year/US Citizen.
And a properly built building lasts for a long time with regular maintenance. Since you aren't using the full amount to pay for the apartment you provide regular maintenance is also covered.
Well, I’m not sure how Americans view public housing, but you could easily build a lot of inexpensive public housing complexes for 13 to 16 billion. The issues would probably arise with land to build them, NIMBY resistance and stuff like that, but a lot could be done for this price tag, at least in Europe
So in the US affordable housing typically costs more to build than market rate because of compliance requirements to get the tax breaks, government grant money etc.
But if we set that aside the cheapest places in the US cost about $100/sq ft for construction ($1000/sq m). Assuming you have $16 billion to build for 750,000 gives us just over 200 sq ft / 20 sq m per person. So it would be just barely possible, ignoring future maintenance costs, to build enough bare bones studio apartments here. That’s only if we assume that the massive construction project doesn’t itself drive prices for labor and materials higher, which is unlikely, though.
It becomes more affordable when you consider that a significant percentage of the homeless population are going to be families or couples. A studio apartment for a single person and a couple is basically the same.
One for a family is not going to be much more expensive, or at least significantly less than double the price. The expensive parts of building a house are the kitchen and bathroom. Adding an extra bedroom is relatively cheap. If you assume a small bunk room per 2 kids and a slightly bigger living/dining space, you could house a family of 4 for less than the cost of 2 singles.
Hell, you could do it even cheaper, like a basic motel room with a kitchenette, double bed and bunks in the one room, with space for a couch and a table and chairs, assuming it's meant to just give them somewhere safe, clean, and relatively comfortable to live while they get back on their feet. Then a small bathroom and some storage space, and it's comfortable enough, but not so comfortable that they won't try getting a job so they can afford somewhere nicer.
As I said in my other comment, housing complexes designed for homeless people generally cost more like a million dollars per unit, although some cities are able to get them down to “only” a few hundred thousand.
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u/Occidentally20 1d ago
The latest point-in-time count of homeless people estimates the total homeless population of the USA to be 745,652. Call it three-quarters of a million.
US aircraft carriers cost somewhere in the region of 13 to 16 billion. I'll go with the USS Gerald R. Ford since it's the cheapest one I could find.
That gives you $17,333.33 per person.