After travelling the world on ships and trains, 12 steel freight containers will become 320-square-foot studio apartments in the Downtown Eastside.
Construction on Canada’s first homes made from recycled shipping containers begins Friday after years of efforts by non-profit Atira Women’s Resource Society to build the unique, subsidized housing at Jackson Avenue and Alexander Street.
“They’re environmentally friendly – we’re reusing existing materials which would otherwise be sent to a landfill,” Atira CEO Janice Abbott said Thursday. “We’re thrilled it’s coming to a conclusion.”

The 12 stackable units are seismically sound and cost less than $100,000 each, according to Atira. They each include private bathrooms and in-suite laundry.
When they are complete in May 2013, the shipping containers will house six women older than 55 for $375 a month (maximum shelter rates) and six renters who will pay 30 per cent of their income. The development is beside an Atira project for hard-to-house young women.
Atira will look for tenants in January, and will select women who are currently living in shelters, couch surfing or homeless.
“They’re not necessarily hard to house expect that they’re poor,” Abbott said.
One of Vancouver’s oldest heritage houses, built by early settler John Baptist Henderson in 1888, was torn down to make room for the project. Heritage Vancouver previously said it would be a “truly unfortunate outcome” if the house was demolished,
Atira tried to relocate the house for six months, but couldn’t find a taker, Abbott said. It was in bad shape and moving it was too expensive for those who expressed interest in buying, she added.
Atira hopes to build more shipping container housing in the near future.
There are an estimated 17 million used shipping containers in the world, according to JWT Consulting.