Styrofoam is an excellent insulator and has no strength whatsoever. One heavy rain or a windstorm and they would fly away or collapse.

Well yeah if you use the light flexy stuff. I mean make it out of the strong durable Styrofoam. Something that can withstand about 20lbs on top of it. The rain and wind, well thats what the all proof weather coating is for. I know theres all sorts of insulating styrofoam for your attics and what not, but think of this like one huge piece. Literally 9ft high, 14ft wide, and shaped like a circle.

Use adds to help sell the product if it needs it. Either way, im sure it beats old newspapers and a dirty coat any day.

I agree that a semi-permanent structure can be made of 2" thick pink styrofoam. The corners could be die-cut in a dovetail and you could use a single sheet for the entire width, up to two for the height and two for the roof to make an 8-foot square box.

The door would still need a frame. skip the windows. The edges can be glued with urethane glue such as elmers 'nano' or even 'greatstuff' will glue styrofoam but you have to clamp it and wait until it dries.

Stryrofoam comes in various densities and load bearing/compressibility ratings. http://www.owenscorning.com/comminsul/products.asp?product=19

I've worked with the Foamular 600 and it is heavier and nearly as tough as MDB.

If you make the structure with a floor from 600, you'll want to lay-in something to protect it (carpet?). You'll still want to anchor it to the ground--you could use those auger dog tie-outs for that.

But the big questions I can't answer are 1. Where? the homeless own no land. 2. fire codes would certainly prohibit these-- 3. how to heat or cool without permanance? 4. no plumbing, no power (maybe DC wind generators?)--would people want to live in them? 5. ownership?

Generally I agree with Ayn Rand on altruism--if no-one would be willing to pay for what you're doing, it probably isn't worth doing. Free stuff is often not what is needed--people just take it because it's free. Maybe I'd agree with selling or renting these to poor-people, but not intentionlly giving them away to set-up permanent shanty towns which would keep those same people from ever aspiring to more. At least if they were rented or on leased land, a landlord could provide some control to prevent social decay caused by these shanties.

But look at New Orleans--we gave those people nice trailers and many never plan to move back into their homes. That's stupid.

True, New Orleans is a good example. So then do as you suggested, use them for a beginner point and rent them to the homeless low cost. And no one can be perminent, its only good for 1yr, and by then they should be able to move on. Studio apartment or what not. Electrical wont be too bad if you had a community generator that helps to split the power between Cubbies. (nickname for the cubed houses). With alittle help from the government, maybe it could have alittle lee-way in the area of fire prevention. I mean, it could be partially flame retardent. And with a sign of the pen, all legal rights involving distaters could be waved. That way no one is sued when some nut decides his house taste better cooked then dried and burns the "New Start Village 1" to the ground.

I don't know about giving them away, but styrofoam is stronger than you think and can make excellent shelters. If it's thin it will be flimsy, but if you make it thick (>3") it is surprisingly strong. To make it really durable, you can coat the outside with a thin layer of plastic to resist damage. If you coat it with a fiber reinforced plastic, it can be made super strong. A good design would be something like this.

Although my assessment of the structural capabilities of Styrofoam seem to be way off base I agree that creating large numbers of temporary housing conglomerations will, at end, end up in what were called “Hoovervilles” in the last great depression. These engendered large problems of sanitation and criminal activity and no community would be happy to see them grow. I am sure that the concept of lightweight inexpensive housing is worth pursuing for other ends but the psychological factors of groups of miserable deprived people living together and even paying minimum rent (if they have even that means) would lead to much vandalism as was evident in the experiment with low cost high rise dwellings and even sturdy Styrofoam structures are vulnerable to angry miserable people for wreaking their anger on whatever structures are around. The coming economic downturn should leave many large steel shipping containers available for housing and these, lined with insulating Styrofoam for heating containment, might provide a better and less vulnerable choice for temporary housing.

sand, it's curious how you say 'the "last" great depression.'

Not looking forward to the next five years? I'm concerned too.

There is a caveat we haven't mentioned about styrofoam, though. It's not cheap. One sheet of 2" thick 600 is something like $50. If I can build a house from nine 4 x 8 sheets, that's still $450 without any of the other costs. I can buy 2 x 4's and pressboard for considerably less than that--pressboard (OSB) is still something like seven dollars a sheet. So the same size house can be built for one hundred dollars and it will be considerably more permanent.

I built an 8 x 8 pressboard building six years ago as a shed. It still looks great. Of course it has shingles and paint and a CCA floor which cost considerably more than the initial cost of the rest of the building materials. But no-joke, I could live in it if I had to.

If you heat with a little wood stove, there will be so many BTU's you can afford for the little house to leak heat. You could insulate with sawdust or other things very cheaply. And you could set up real neighborhoods of little cabins with power and plumbing and even sidewalks.

As for sand's idea about containers, it could be good, but containers aren't livable without HVAC or windows and insulation--they're extremely uncomfortable to even be in, whether it's hot or cold. Converting containers to apartments would be a costly endeavor. Ugly too. But probably more permanent than little OSB shacks.

Those fairly new metallic feeling beer bottles seem strong & cheap, I wonder if they could make a hexagonal frame over which some spray could be applied to make cheap housing.

Maybe make it like a wigwam with triangular sections so it would be a lot stronger. Use aluminium slotted strips to join the panels, these can be held to the ground with pegs and then coat the whole thing with a resin to waterproof it.

So in a big wind, the homes blow away?

Not likely to be practical, though I understand the principle behind your idea.

A better solution that could use your insulation would be to construct protable shelters that could be carried around and set up. Put safety features like locks and sturdy, fireproof, smash-proof walls on them and you might just have a good idea.