Were you aware of it? vol. 20: Good news in Texas

The NYT reported recently on Dan Phillips and his new construction company, Phoenix Commotion, based in Huntsville, TX. With NPR reporting on our continued adventures with the housing crisis, this man is doing some really awesome stuff for his community.

Phoenix Commotion is building low income housing for the Huntsville community by acquiring lots inexpensively and building houses entirely out of salvaged materials. The finished product may not look like the other houses on the block, but they're well designed, totally up to code, and pretty dang good looking.

See for yourself:

Roof made of old shingles.
Osage Orange wood countertop - abundant locally.
Ceiling made of old frame samples.
Cattle bone backed chair.

Phillips insists that future owners help with construction à la Habitat for Humanity, but Phoenix Commotion isn't a nonprofit. Phillips keeps profit margins relatively slim, but he wants to prove that low income housing is viable as a business model. In the process his efforts have helped Huntsville organize channels for the collection and dispersal of salvageable/salvaged building materials.

Even if some of the 15 original owners have been booted out of their homes by the financial crisis (moving the homes into middle class hands), it's a noble effort, and I'm glad to see someone taking on good looking, low income housing.

See the original article.