美式蝸居 在奧克蘭住在集裝箱和睡箱裏

OAKLAND, Calif. — This summer, the median rent for a one-bedroom in San Francisco’s cityscape of peaked Victorians soared higher than Manhattan’s, sent skyward by a housing shortage fueled in part by the arrival of droves of newcomers here to mine tech gold.

加利福尼亞州奧克蘭——今年夏天，在舊金山市隨處可見的尖頂維多利亞式建築中，一居室的中值租金飆升，超過了曼哈頓。租金大漲的部分原因是新來者趨之若鶩地趕來發掘科技業金礦而導致住房短缺。

And so, as the story of such cities goes, the priced-out move outward — in New York City, to Brooklyn and, increasingly, to Queens. For San Franciscans, the rent refuge is here in Oakland, where the rates are increasing as well — so much so that young professionals are living in repurposed shipping containers while the homeless are lugging around coffinlike sleeping boxes on wheels.

於是，當這樣的城市持續發展，無法承受高價位的人們向外移動——在紐約市，是到布魯克林，越來越多地也包括皇后區。在舊金山，“房租難民”則涌向了奧克蘭。但那裏的租金也在上升，以至於年輕的專業人士生活在改裝的集裝箱內，而無家可歸者則拖着像棺材一樣的有輪睡箱四處遊走。

These two improvised housing arrangements have emerged in an industrial pocket of Oakland where the median rent has gone up by 20 percent over the past year. One, in a warehouse, is called Containertopia, a community of young people who have set up a village of 160-square-foot shipping containers like ones used in the Port of Oakland. Each resident pays $600 a month to live in a container, which can be modified with things like insulation, glass doors, electrical outlets, solar panels and a self-contained shower and toilet.

之所以會出現這兩種住宿方式，是因爲奧克蘭一個工業區的平均租金在過去的一年中上漲了20%。由一羣年輕人成立的“集裝箱烏托邦”(Containertopia)現身當地的一個倉庫。他們建立了一個由一座座佔地160平方英尺（約合15平方米）的海運集裝箱組成的村莊，而這裏的集裝箱與在奧克蘭港使用的那些並無二致。每個居民每月支付600美元（約合3800元人民幣）就可入住一座集裝箱。它經過改造，帶有保溫設施、玻璃門、電源插座、太陽能電池板，以及獨立的淋浴間和廁所。

Containertopia was started last year by Luke Iseman, 32, and Heather Stewart, 30, who were then a couple. For Mr. Iseman, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and works in technology — most recently developing automated systems for watering plants — container living has been a social experiment in stripping down to the basics, one that he hopes to teach others to replicate.

“集裝箱烏托邦”由32歲的盧克·伊斯曼(Luke Iseman)和30歲的希瑟·斯圖爾特(Heather Stewart)在去年創辦。他們二人當時是一對。伊斯曼畢業於賓夕法尼亞大學沃頓商學院(University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School)，並在科技界工作。他最近在開發自動澆灌植物的系統。對於伊斯曼來說，集裝箱的生活是剝離到基本需求的社會實驗。他希望能夠教會更多人仿效。

“If we can do it in one of the highest-cost places in the world,” he said, “people can do this anywhere.”

“這裏是世上生活成本最高的地方之一。如果我們在這裏可以辦到，那世上任何地方都可以，”他說。

Just outside the warehouse doors is another community, residing, too, in containers of a sort. Here, the homeless live in dwellings made by a local artist named Gregory Kloehn, set on wheels and made for the streets. Each is about eight feet long and tall enough for a person to sit up in.

倉庫大門外面不遠處是另一片社區，也是居住在某種箱盒裏。在這裏，無家可歸者生活在當地藝術家格雷戈·克勒恩(Gregory Kloehn)製作的居所中。這種睡箱有輪子，特意爲街邊生活打造。每間大約八英尺長（約合2.4米），高度能讓一個人坐起來。

“It doesn’t fit our mind-set of what a home is,” said Mr. Kloehn, 44, who began creating and giving away the portable homes, which are made of recycled material, in 2011. Oakland has about 3,000 homeless people, according to the East Oakland Community Project, a nonprofit organization that helps house people who live on the street; San Francisco has about 6,700.

44歲的克勒恩說：“這並不符合我們心中家的概念。”他在2011年開始製作和贈送由再造材料建成的活動屋。根據幫助無家可歸者的非營利性組織東奧克蘭社區項目(East Oakland Community Project)提供的數據，奧克蘭大約有3000名無家可歸的人；舊金山大約有6700名。

Mr. Kloehn has made about 40 of the cheerily painted rolling boxes, coaxing people to leave their cardboard or tarp shanties on the streets.

克勒恩建成了約40座色彩繽紛的移動住房，吸引流浪者離開他們在街上搭的紙板或篷布棚戶。

“In this city, with all its money, within it there is another layer: these nomadic people who are living off our garbage,” he said.

他說，“這座城市很富有，但它還有另外一面：這些流浪者靠着我們的垃圾生存。”

Containertopia and Mr. Kloehn’s mobile shelters draw from the tiny house movement, a shift to a more ascetic way of living that has inspired entire microhome villages in places like Olympia, Wash., and Madison, Wis., as well as isolated examples in countless backyards. Such residences are embraced by the ecologically and social-justice minded, but are often fought by local governments; they often do not comply with building codes or are plopped in areas where they should not be.

“集裝箱烏托邦”和克勒恩的移動收容所受到了微型住所運動的啓發。這是一種轉向更清苦的生活方式的運動，激發了在華盛頓州奧林匹亞和威斯康星州麥迪遜等地的整片微小居所村莊，以及無數在後院的單個例子。這樣的住所得到了提倡生態和社會正義的人士的擁護，但往往受地方政府打擊。這是因爲它們通常不符合建築規範，或者突然在不合適的地方冒出來。

But that is where the similarities between the homeless dwellings and the shipping containers end. Though they are on the same block, they are worlds apart.

然而，這就是流浪者的住處和海運集裝箱之間的不同之處。雖然都在同一個街區，它們卻有天壤之別。

Ms. Stewart and Mr. Iseman initially set Containertopia in an abandoned lot in the area, which they purchased for $425,000 with several friends. They were forced out this spring after neighbors complained. (The lot is not zoned for residences; for now, the owners grow vegetables there while they decide what to do with it.)

斯圖爾特和伊斯曼最初在一處廢棄空地設立了“集裝箱烏托邦”。他們和幾個朋友花了42.5萬美元買下了這片空地。在鄰居抱怨後，他們被迫在今年春天遷出。（該地段不是住宅用地；現在，決定如何處理它之前，業主在那裏種菜。）

Then, with 12 of their friends and a forklift, Mr. Iseman and Ms. Stewart moved the container homes indoors to a warehouse. Mr. Iseman’s container, painted azure inside, cost about $12,000 to make habitable, with a lofted bed and a picture window carved into one flank. Ms. Stewart is still at work on hers, spackling drywall and carving a kitchen countertop from a redwood board she milled from a giant trunk.

後來，伊斯曼和斯圖爾特與12位朋友用一部剷車，把集裝箱通通搬進了一座倉庫內。伊斯曼的家裏刷上了天藍色，裏面有一張高腳牀，其中一側有一戶觀景窗，總共花了大約1.2萬美元來變得適合居住。斯圖爾特的居所還在改造，她在板牆上抹牆粉，把大樹樁壓成紅木板，再把它做成廚房桌面。

The shift from house to container dwelling has made them reprioritize almost everything. Ms. Stewart quit her job in digital design to manage Containertopia and sold most of her possessions.

從住房子變成住集裝箱，他們爲此幾乎要重新安排一切。爲了打理“集裝箱烏托邦”，斯圖爾特辭掉了數字設計的工作，還賣掉了多數家當。

“I can work an office job and pay my rent every month and be stressed about not being able to do anything else, or I can live in a ridiculous warehouse,” she said. “The choice is obvious.”

她說，“我可以坐在辦公室工作，每個月交房租，因爲無法做其他任何事情而壓力巨大。或者我可以住在一個好笑的倉庫裏。應該選擇哪個？答案很明顯。”

Mr. Kloehn, the artist, is best known for his own container home, a Dumpster turned studio apartment on the lot of an arts collective in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where he spends part of the year. His other home is a studio in Oakland in the same industrial neighborhood as Containertopia.

藝術家克勒恩因爲他的貨櫃屋出名。它是由垃圾箱改造成的一室公寓房，坐落在布魯克林紅鉤區的一片藝術品聚集地。克勒恩每年有一部分時間待在這裏。他的另一個家是間工作室，跟“集裝箱烏托邦”位於奧克蘭的同一個工業區裏。

Several years ago, Mr. Kloehn became fascinated with how homeless people appropriated what few resources they had — namely, other people’s trash — to create shelters. He decided to do the same, cobbling the small dwellings together with an artist’s skill.

幾年前，無家可歸者善用僅有的資源——就是別人眼中的垃圾——創造棲身之所的方法開始讓克勒恩深感興趣。他決定仿效，運用藝術家的手藝打造出一個個小型住處。

“I’m just kind of ripping a page from the homeless people’s books,” he said. “They’ve been making homes out of this stuff for a long time.”

“我只是從無家可歸者那裏偷學了一點，”他說。“他們很久以前就在用這些東西造家。”

Another artist, Elvis Summers, started making similar tiny homes for the homeless around Los Angeles. But that city determined those homes were illegal; many of the structures were moved onto private property before sanitation workers could remove them from the streets.

另一位藝術家埃爾維斯·桑默斯(Elvis Summers)以前也在洛杉磯一帶爲無家可歸者製造類似的小窩。可是當地政府堅決把這些住所視爲違法；很多這類小窩搬到了私人物業之上，否則環衛工作者會把它們從街上清走。

Mr. Kloehn says that cracking down on the boxes is misguided. If the box homes were banned, “would they be in an apartment?” he asked of the dwellers. “Would they be in a condo? Or would they be nowhere?”

克勒恩說，打擊這類住所是因爲受到誤導。他替小窩的居住者問，要是這些住所被禁，“他們會住進房子嗎？他們會住進共管公寓嗎？還是他們會沒有容身之地呢？”

In Oakland, the portable houses have been largely tolerated. Several residents said they were occasionally asked by the police to wheel them elsewhere, but were otherwise left alone.

在奧克蘭，活動屋一直是大致受到接納的。幾個居民說偶爾會有警察要求他們把活動屋拖到其他地方，但除此之外並無其他麻煩。

A block from Mr. Kloehn’s studio, and around the corner from Containertopia, sits one of his homes for the homeless, brightly colored with a trompe l’oeil paint job that makes it look like a microsize suburban home.

在距離克勒恩的奧克蘭工作室一個街區的地方，就在“集裝箱烏托邦”附近，放置了克勒恩爲無家可歸者打造的一個睡箱。表面色彩鮮豔的錯視畫讓它像是縮小版的郊區住宅似的。

“This house is a blessing,” the woman living in it said. She declined to give her name because she said she was ashamed she lived on the streets, having once had a steady job and a real home.

住在這裏的女士說，“這屋子是上帝的恩賜。”她不願說出名字，因爲她曾有過一份穩定的工作和一個真正的家，但如今淪落街頭讓她感到很羞恥。

She added, “This is my way of trying to get back to how I used to be.”

她還說，“這樣做就是在嘗試找回我以前的生活。”