Jim Forde, the Director of Cargo2Casa a California non-profit that builds home out of Ocean Containers is asked every day why an agent that is 78 years old, would want to try to solve an impossible program of homeless.

According to Jim, the answer is “Why Not”.   I cannot solve the problem, but I can build one home a week and add 50 homes to the community.   This year’s count shows there are 7,322 homeless people in Orange County, most of whom live in central and north county, with 4,173 of them sleeping on the streets.

There are more people living on the streets of Orange County than there were two years ago, according to a new report published by county leaders dubbed the Point in Time Count.

The federally mandated biennial count, conducted at the end of January this year, highlighted a nearly 2,000-person increase in Orange County’s homeless population, which county officials claimed was still at a much lower percentage than surrounding counties and the state average.

The last count found there were 5,718 homeless people in OC, with 3,057 of them were unsheltered.

That means the county went from around 53% of its homeless population being unsheltered to 56% over two years.

Orange County Lacks Housing

The new Point in Time count comes as many county leaders are admitting that there is not enough affordable housing to help people from falling into homelessness.

What Jim Forde, of Cargo2Casa is doing makes a lot of sense.

Cargo2Casa is a charitable and educational organization that brings people together to build low-cost homes out of ocean containers. By creating low-cost housing out of land, a homeowner already owns, it not only lessens the burden of government to provide additional housing but educates homeowners on optimal ways to create low-cost housing and provide a secondary income. These homes are sold to homeowners to supply assisted rental housing, and Cargo2Casa also provides educational programs to help homeowners learn about the financial benefits of adding accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to their properties. By creating low-cost housing and helping homeowners generate additional income, Cargo2Casa is helping to address the affordable housing crisis and create more sustainable communities.

In addition to providing affordable housing, Cargo2Casa also trains underemployed community members in construction and teaches real estate and lending agents how to do construction estimates and site plans. This training helps people in the real estate industry who have been impacted by the high cost of housing, and it also helps to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce in the construction industry.

Racially inclusivity and its mission is to create a world where every person has a decent place to live. The organization’s vision is to create sustainable communities through low-cost container homes, home ownership, rental income, neighborhood civic engagement, advocacy, home repair, and economic development.

Cargo2Casa’s work is particularly important because freight companies are creating an enormous surplus of empty shipping containers at ports. Re-using these containers for home-building purposes reduces the need for new materials and helps to create more sustainable communities.

For more information on the work that Cargo2Casa is doing, please contact:

Jim Forde
Director
Cargo2Casa
4040 Barranca Pkwy., Ste 150
Irvine, CA 92604
Phone: 949-992-8239
Email: Jim@Cargo2Casa.org