You know, I have been building basic shelters for as long as I can remember. When I was 13 I built a treehouse on a vacant property nearby my home with debris found on construction sites. It became a clubhouse for the kids in the neighborhood, then runaway kids started to show up and spend the night there. They would tell stories of how they needed to escape from their parents who did absolutely awful things to them. I didn't know what else to do except lend an ear and bring them food and water. As strange as it may seem, my treehouse was the only place of refuge these kids had. I honestly don't know how I managed to gather all the materials and haul them up into a tree as a scrawny little 13 year old kid. But I did it nonetheless. Some pieces were quite heavy such as 3/4 inch plywood sheets which I hauled up steep embankments from a freeway construction site to the tree where I cut the pieces with a hand saw.
The notion of providing decent and permanent shelters for people in need has stuck with me all my life. I am currently helping out some people in need, including a brilliant young student who has a college scholarship from the Gates Millennium foundation, but is still in need of basic shelter. I believe I have developed a workable solution for housing homeless or people who are otherwise disadvantaged and in need of basic shelter.
I attached a few photos of a property in development in San Rafael, called "Woodlands Sanctuary", and a photo of another property located further north called "Juniper Sanctuary", which will be developed next.