Immediate, Dignified Housing for Homelessness Relief or Emergency Shelter.

HOW VIKA LIVING AND LOCAL LEADERS CAN HELP HOUSE ALL 650,000 UNSHELTERED PEOPLE EVERY NIGHT IN THE U.S.

• Vika partners with cities and humanitarian organizations to provide immediate and dignified housing for vulnerable populations

• Vika is the exclusive housing partner for Freedom Homestead, providing housing for unsheltered veterans across the U.S. Vika aims to go nationwide with more city and state partnerships

There’s an urgent housing crisis in America, and it’s affecting all of us on some level. But we’ve got good news: there’s something we can do right now in partnership with local leaders and municipalities to do some real good in the world and turn this crisis around. 

No matter your background, current circumstances, political or religious beliefs, this crisis is in our best interest as a united nation to understand and support initiatives that will reverse its trajectory and reveal our humanity and potential.

Vika provides rapidly deployed housing in response to the natural disasters which displace millions of people each year in the U.S. 

We’re on a mission to address this fraught and desperate unsheltered crisis. How? Using flexible housing that’s affordable, sustainable, and restores dignity for all stakeholders with real economic and humanitarian outcomes.

HOW CAN WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW? We’ll explore the problems and foundational solutions in this article. Read on to learn more about:

THE ISSUE

  • The difference between unsheltered individuals and chronically unhoused people

  • The real reasons people experience unsheltered circumstances. Hint: they’re not lazy or addicts

  • How this crisis and its resolution affects all of our communities and our nation

  • What’s been done to attempt to solve the crisis and why it’s not working

OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE SOLUTION

  • Getting people off the streets now with flexible housing

    • Improves the economy, quality of living, and human dignity

  • Flexible housing units that are more affordable options for cities than current initiatives 

  • Vika Living units can be implemented and established quickly and easily in a variety of urban and suburban environments

  • We provide unit management support for cities that don’t have the bandwidth to do so

UNSHELTERED VS. CHRONICALLY UNHOUSED

Every night in the United States, there are approximately 234,000 unsheltered individuals every night–the number went up 3.4% from 2020 to 2022. This number does not include all the families and children who are also unsheltered each night. Individuals, however, experience the highest rates of unsheltered experiences. Unsheltered individual adults comprise the largest single segment, 37%, of the total population experiencing homelessness according to the most recent US Department of Housing report. 

These are people who are very willing and capable of work, but due to circumstances out of their control, they find themselves without a roof over their head. Vika Living has a solution that works really well for individuals without a roof over their head, which we’ll discuss in more detail further along in this article. 

Many people in our country are one unfortunate incident away from being unsheltered. These people are not lazy, criminal, or addicts. Whereas, chronically unhoused individuals often live with untreated and deep mental illness that keeps them from being able to work and function in society on their own.

Common triggers for an unsheltered experience include:

  • Getting unexpectedly and suddenly laid off

  • Experiencing a car accident that is costly both financially and healthwise

  • A loved one dying

  • Health issues that are beyond someone’s control–we all get sick

  • Rising rents are pushing people out of their homes and into crowded living situations

    • Some of the largest rental companies in America have made it very clear that this is the most profitable time they have ever seen, and they remain excited to raise rents. This is beyond any individual’s control

    • Credit card companies reveal that, as a nation experiencing financial stress, we are accumulating more debt as individuals that we ever had in the history of our country–a recipe for imminent disaster

The National Alliance To End Homelessness put out a recent report:

“In January 2020, there were 580,466 people experiencing homelessness on our streets and in shelters in America. Most were individuals (70 percent), and the rest were people in families with children. They lived in every state and territory, and they include people from every gender, racial, and ethnic group.”

The reality of the housing crisis is catching up to many of us and those we love and care about. The rising cost of living has become painful for most households, and paycheck to paycheck is a common burden many of us experience. And, yet, when we come together to face this urgent crisis, we leave denial behind to embrace the possibility of shifting this crisis towards a transformative and thriving reality for all. The opportunity is here. And it can begin with flexible housing that reestablishes dignity for the entire community. 

To learn more about what causes homelessness, read more about it here. 

“No society can understand itself without looking at its shadow side.”

-Dr. Gabor Maté, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts

We find ourselves in a housing crisis situation where, on the one hand, options for affordable housing units have increased (a very good thing!), but on the other hand, options for emergency shelters have decreased. We have greater and increasing need while experiencing less inventory. Cities have done a great job focusing on long term housing solutions, but have had to abandon emergency and transitional options. This is at the root of the housing crisis.

THE EFFECTS ON THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY: ON ECONOMICS AND WELLBEING 

Imagine you’ve just lost your job and the ability to pay your rent. How do you keep necessary belongings safe without a place to call home? How do you protect yourself on the street from harm? You’d be spending most of your time trying to figure out how to stay safe, protected, and well, let alone have time to effectively look for another job. When individuals find themselves unsheltered, it’s more than just looking for a new job. Not only do these people want work, but we all benefit when we can find ways to support them in their efforts.

Bottom line, when people are working and employed, it bolsters the economy and everyone’s overall wellbeing. More taxes are paid to support community infrastructure when people are working, and people are safe and off of the street. Remember, this unsheltered population wants to work as soon as possible. Here’s a few of the most impactful ways providing housing now for the unsheltered can immediately improve communities:

  • Improves the economy as people who are housed have time/energy to pursue work

  • People who have proper housing are safer and can avoid dangerous encounters that often detract first responders from tending to serious matters in the community

  • Their health is improved or maintained which keeps them out of emergency rooms that stress the health care system

  • Allows local policy makers to focus more on revising the underlying causes of the unsheltered crisis and shift the economic and wellbeing trajectory for their communities into a more productive and positive landscape

THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE OF THE HOUSING CRISIS: What local leaders face day after day, and how it impacts every person in the community

Beyond personal situations that lead to an unsheltered circumstance, many individuals are at risk for being unsheltered due to the increased frequency of natural disasters, dissolving family and community bonds, and little to no access to opportunities that will enable them to create financial, health, and social buffers. 

At the same time, local leaders are faced with budget constraints, public opinion and perception about unsheltered populations, and a general lack of solutions. Many states are trying their best to help people with limited time and resources, and often have to choose a solution for the convenience of it. Often they are renting individual hotel rooms to shelter people, spending over $3k per month to keep them safe and able to look for work. 

Vika Living units save cities and states money as they can be purchased for a cost starting at under $50K and used in perpetuity for many individuals over time. Units will be available to lease and change the cost to “for a little more than $1k per month, saving states and cities thousands of dollars each month. Think of what they could do with all of that saved money!

Many cities have attempted at least one or more of the following without any overall positive results:

  • Using shed-like structures that cannot be transported or re-used, and they lack windows and the dignity of a home

  • Buying abandoned hotels and cramming multiple people into one room

  • Paying nightly market rates for hotel rooms–cities are paying full price, at least $3k per month

  • Relying on homeless shelters that are almost always filled beyond capacity and underfunded

  • Tolerating “tent cities” which are dangerous, undignified, and negatively impact public opinion of the situation

Local leaders are dealing with more limitations than solutions. When we as a community take time to look squarely at the situation, we tap into our creativity and find open doors where we once thought they were closed. Vika Living’s passion has opened a door for local leaders to shift the unsheltered narrative with real momentum. 

AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE SOLUTION:  How Vika Living provides an out-of-the-box solution NOW

Necessity Is the Mother of All Invention

When it comes to a crisis, timing is everything. And the timing is usually now. Vika Living has been working on providing an immediate part of the solution for the past few years that is ready to be deployed at an affordable price with adaptable usability. Vika flexible housing units face each city’s roadblocks head on with ingenuity and dignity, and are designed to be an integral part of a bigger solution to the housing crisis. Additionally, the Vika team has significant experience working with non-profits and foundations. 

Here’s how Vika Living can help local leaders shift the housing crisis reality for the unsheltered today:

AFFORDABILITY

  • Vika Living units are affordable and fit within most city budgets that have already been allocated for housing support. 

    • Cities also often have more financial options with available federal support

    • More often than not, Vika will save cities money on what they’re already spending on the issue–imagine what they could do with those extra dollars!

  • Cities can purchase the units outright, or they can lease them for small monthly payments with an option to have Vika Living help manage them

  • Vika is more than happy, willing, and capable of working with foundations who want to donate to help cities find dignified solutions for unsheltered populations

QUALITY

  • Vika can deliver all units move-in ready with all the furniture, bedding, linens, dish-ware, etc. 

  • The units are beautifully designed for unsheltered guests to have the emotional and physical bandwidth to go out and get a job that will help them regain their footing and confidence. 

  • Guests have also have a safe place to store their precious few belongings. 

EFFICIENT & REUSABLE

  • Each unit can be unfolded and ready to use within 1 hour

  • They can be moved around with a forklift–cranes aren’t needed

  • We can transport 6 units per truck

  • Units can be reused in any circumstance for any need. Whether it’s for the temporarily unsheltered due to situations beyond individuals’ control, or cities can move and use them during natural disaster emergencies

VERSATILITY

  • Units can run on or off grid

  • They can be setup in unused parking lots, and then moved to undeveloped land

  • They work in densely populated urban centers as well as more suburban locations

HOW LOCAL LEADERS CAN IMMEDIATELY IMPLEMENT FLEXIBLE HOUSING SOLUTIONS

Want to take Vika Living for a test drive? Cities can begin a pilot program specifically for emergency shelters to see how it can scale and work for them.

Where can cities place these flexible housing units? Most cities have the ability to utilize publicly held land, including commercial properties or areas donated by organizations that are currently vacant. For example, many large companies that have shifted to remote working models no longer need the large parking lots that once filled up with employee vehicles. 

Vika also provides cities the ability to use undeveloped land because of our off-grid capabilities, and the units can be relocated if needed.

Vika Living wants to make sure cities succeed on a level never before seen. If your city needs help finding funding and willing partners, Vika Living is ready and capable to help you make it happen. Just reach out. We’re eager to get this crisis behind us once and for all.

THE GOOD NEWS AND THE OPPORTUNITY

All of us deserve shelter that is dignified and safe–especially those of us in crisis. It’s one of our most basic human needs, and we are creative beings that can improve our entire community when we come together to solve any problem. 

With every crisis comes a profound opportunity to change things at the root of the problem that caused the crisis in the first place. We have real solutions that can turn this crisis into something that will restore dignity for all of us and our entire communities. We humans are creative, resourceful, collaborative, and generous. We want to work with cities and states to help them do what they know is possible. 

We hope you’ll jump in with your whole heart and voice with us on this journey. We’re here to support you and your community for the long game.