Building a $300 House for the Poor…

I recently read this article on Harvard Business Review Magazine’s website and found it to be a really great idea.   Vijay Govindarajan from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and co-author Christian Sarkar developed a concept of building a house for the poor that would cost under $300.  The idea started from a simple comment in a blog post and has grown into a challenge that many are participating in.

Companies, students, engineers, etc are working together to create housing for the poor in many countries available.  So far homes in the $700-$1,000 range have been designed but the goal is for the $300 self sustainable house.  You can view more of the project details at their website:  http://www.300house.com

Here is a short video of Vijay Govindarajan explaining why he wants to create affordable housing and what motivated him to do so:  http://ow.ly/6DADR

Here is an idea… Lender Processing Services (LPS) tracks data on mortgages.  They recently announced that 6,357,000 mortgages are 30 days past due.  It is estimated that 30% are due to strategic default, meaning that the owners CAN afford to pay the mortgage but instead choose to walk away.  That is 1,907,100 mortgages.  If the $300 House project succeeds, what if those 1,907,100 owners not paying their mortgage paid for one $300 house per month for the average 18 months it takes the bank to foreclose on their house???

Well with each $300 house putting a solid roof over 4 people, that would be just over 137 Million people helped worldwide – just from the USA!  I will keep following up on the status of this project as it has the potential to change the world’s poverty levels.

Ciao!

Marc

Thank you for reading Marc Guzman’s West County Blog!  If you have any questions for Marc, please email him at:  MarcsHomes@yahoo.com.  You may also find Marc Guzman on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. (Links are on the right side of page).