Late in October, 36 new homes made from recycled shipping containers began arriving in Brighton to become temporary dwellings for men and women that have had a history of homelessness.

The initiative was begun by the Brighton Housing Trust, a housing charity, and QED Estates Ltd, a housing developer. Located in New England Road on a plot that is known as Richardson’s Yard, the development is taking the place of a car park and a former scrap metal yard. Because the land is not suitable for long-term housing, the location is temporary, but the container homes can be easily relocated when the five-year permit expires.

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Recognizing a housing crisis in New England, where many renters and homeowners pay over a third of their income on housing, much of which includes homes that were built before 1950 and are extremely inefficient, the ∆T90 team at Norwich University in Vermont designed a high performance, affordable solution that has been accepted in the Solar Decathlon 2013 that takes place in October 2013 in Irvine, California.

Addressing concerns that include inefficient heating systems, insufficient insulation, and leaky construction of door and window assemblies that contribute to fuel costs that are sometimes equivalent to mortgage payments, the ∆T90 team took “an unapologetic design position” to deliver a modular home that is tailored to the northeastern region of the United States.

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A couple of years ago, Michigan’s Cobblestone Homes partnered with Dow Chemical Company to collaborate on the InVision Zero house, a home that is entirely sustainable for its energy use while being affordable and attainable for many Americans.

The InVision Zero home showcased several Dow products including POWERHOUSE solar shingles, WaterFurnace geothermal heating and cooling system, walls that are filled with 5” of Dow closed-cell spray foam, one inch each of Dow Structural Insulating Sheathing (SIS) and Dow Tongue-and-Groove Styrofoam to ensure a complete thermal break, and triple-paned Paradigm windows.

The most recent collaboration between Dow and Cobblestone is the TEETH (Twelve Energy Efficient Test Homes) Project, a five-year energy efficiency study on twelve homes that have been recently built in a subdivision in Midland, Michigan.

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Tiny houses have found homes as hotel rooms at Caravan Tiny House Hotel, which celebrated its grand opening in the Alberta Arts District, a neighborhood in northeast Portland, Oregon, on July 27, 2013.

Owners Deb Delman and Kol Peterson say that one of the goals of Caravan is to showcase the tiny home lifestyle. Three unique units (Rosebud, Pearl, and Tandem) share the common area outdoors that includes covered seating, a hammock, a barbecue, and a fire pit. In a hostel-like environment, visitors are encouraged to socialize.

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The Oregon-based EcoNest Company is the manifestation of an holistic design concept that being implemented in the construction of homes using straw-clay walls, earth plasters, and non-toxic, natural finishes. The concept as a company encompasses Paula Baker-Laporte, FAIA and Robert Laporte, and has grown to become a resource for home building workshops and seminars, design and build assistance, a network of professional green builders, and access to other learning opportunities.

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The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota has set a goal of building 100 energy-efficient homes during the next five years in an effort to revitalize neighborhoods in the northern region of the city that have been suffering the most during the economic downturn. Homes will be built on vacant, city-owned lots and will be priced between $150,000 and $200,000. Energy efficient and designed to complement surrounding structures, it is expected that the new homes will contribute to increases in property values, along with owner confidence.

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