Pallets, refrigerator doors, dog crates, pickup truck toppers, aluminum cans: all of these discarded items and more have been transformed into surprisingly cute and colorful miniature mobile dwellings for people who don't have a place to call home. Oakland-based artist and builder Gregory Kleohn seeks out illegally dumped material, commercial waste and discarded household items to take care of two problems in one cool project.
The Homeless Homes Project has resulted in 10 mobile shelters thus far, all made from materials Kleohn found on the streets of Oakland. His own monetary contribution to the project consisted only of screws, nails, glue and the gas it takes to drive around the city. Want to help? He's looking for both monetary donations and volunteers.
"Our goal is to bring together imaginative people and discarded materials to make sturdy, innovative, mobile shelters for homeless people," states Kleohn on the project's website. "By sourcing our materials from illegal street dumping, commercial waste, and excess household items, we strive to diminish money's influence over the building process."
"Instead we want people's creativity and ingenuity to drive the building process. Each structure is unique and all homes are mobile so they can accommodate the nomadic lifestyle of our homeless residents while avoiding the complexities of permanent structures."


