The number one issue I believe we have today is a rising amount of homelessness. A lot of people and families are out on the streets. Most cannot get a job because they do not have a home, shelters only allow them to stay for so long before they have to leave. With concrete homes it's an idea that would not cost much to construct a home for homeless families and individuals and get them back onto their feet.
I have stayed in Skid Row in Los Angeles and in Las Vegas. 2 places where I have never seen so much corruption using the homeless for others personal gain. You have the shelters which receive funding to house the homeless but most treat them like garbage while they stay there. You have the police force that is quick to write a ticket for a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk at night.
With my idea of concrete homes they would be quick to build, cheap to make and would get a lot of the people in need of housing off the street and back into mainstream life.
I actually toured this place, and it was really good for what it was designed to do. Specifically, it was meant to be a transition from the street to stability. It was 360 sq feet, 2 beds, no tub, no laundry, minimal personal storage space. Absolutely no privacy, either. But a good first step up. Also alot of the material was donated, so even though it was brand new, some of the wood paneling was already warping.
I dig this concept - not sure if it is still being printed, but you might want to check out the Homeless Guy blog and The Street Sheet in San Francisco, they both cover some unique challenges of the homeless population being mainstreamed that might be helpful. If you are open to it, check out my project and maybe we could work together http://hackaday.io/project/4703-local-food-malls-with-global-impact I also dropped a note on this project http://hackaday.io/project/4683-solar-refuge-and-recharge
Rice did a really cool grad project you might wanna check out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04hWW4--m-w
I actually toured this place, and it was really good for what it was designed to do. Specifically, it was meant to be a transition from the street to stability. It was 360 sq feet, 2 beds, no tub, no laundry, minimal personal storage space. Absolutely no privacy, either. But a good first step up. Also alot of the material was donated, so even though it was brand new, some of the wood paneling was already warping.
Here is another idea out of Austin.
https://www.iconbuild.com/
I am also trying to develop a sintered version. Using something similar to this:
http://mx3d.com/projects/metal/