Seattle CRE appraiser's startup aims to put a dent in the homeless crisis
A Seattle hotel real estate professional on Thursday formally launched a modular housing company, City Pods, which he thinks could be scaled to address homelessness.
City Pods proposes placing modules in empty warehouses or other commercial buildings to turn them into what company CEO Keenan O'Leary calls wellness centers — places where unsheltered people would live and use technology to access services.
O'Leary said the centers could be built for less money than what King County is paying for hotels as part of its $350 million Health Through Housing initiative.
The county has been buying up motels to temporarily house people living on the streets. In one case, it paid $313,000 per room for a North Seattle property. O'Leary, an appraiser who works at Cushman & Wakefield's valuation and advisory practice, thinks that warehouses and other buildings with high ceilings could be acquired and retrofitted with hives of pods for $80,000 a unit.
The pods themselves cost $12,000.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2021/09/10/seattle-appraiser-startup-addresses-homelessness.html