Two residents of Chattanooga’s 3D-printed shelters moved in permanent housing

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – After a month in 3D printed shelters, two people have moved into permanent housing.

According to the City of Chattanooga, that is 60 days ahead of schedule.

Branch Technology provided the buildings and Olivet Baptist Church provided the land.

“The pilot program that we started it’s good. It is a 12-month pilot, and we moved our first residences in about a month ago. And now those residents are moving into permanent housing,” said Director of Homeless Initiatives Casey Tinker.

The City of Chattanooga wants to provide safe temporary housing. The Office of Homelessness and Supportive Housing manages the site. For Branch Technology, it’s a great way to give back.  

“It is not a one size fit all fits all for solving homelessness,” said Tinker. “It takes multiple different approaches and branch technology really wanted to do something to give back to the community, and we partnered with them to do this pilot.”

According to Mayor Kelly, nearly 3,000 people have moved into permanent supportive housing during his administration.

Meanwhile, more than 600 units of affordable housing are in various stages of development throughout Chattanooga, and two new people can move into the 3D printed shelters.

“We are going to continue putting people who are experiencing homelessness into the to the shelters and repeat the process over and over again. Hopefully we are able to house people within 30 days like we have this last time, and that means more and more people can be placed into the 3D printed shelters. Then we move them into permanent housing very quickly,” Tinker concluded.