美式蜗居 在奥克兰住在集装箱和睡箱里

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

加利福尼亚州奥克兰——今年夏天，在旧金山市随处可见的尖顶维多利亚式建筑中，一居室的中值租金飙升，超过了曼哈顿。租金大涨的部分原因是新来者趋之若鹜地赶来发掘科技业金矿而导致住房短缺。

And so, as the story of such cities goes, the priced-out move outward — in New York City, toBrooklyn 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 inrepurposed shipping containers while the homeless are lugging around coffinlike sleeping boxeson wheels.

于是，当这样的城市持续发展，无法承受高价位的人们向外移动——在纽约市，是到布鲁克林，越来越多地也包括皇后区。在旧金山，“房租难民则涌向了奥克兰。但那里的租金也在上升，以至于年轻的专业人士生活在改装的集装箱内，而无家可归者则拖着像棺材一样的有轮睡箱四处游走。

These two improvised housing arrangements have emerged in an industrial pocket of Oaklandwhere the median rent has gone up by 20 percent over the past year. One, in a warehouse, iscalled 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 amonth 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.

之所以会出现这两种住宿方式，是因为奥克兰一个工业区的平均租金在过去的一年中上涨了20%。由一群年轻人成立的“集装箱乌托邦(Containertopia)现身当地的一个仓库。他们建立了一个由一座座占地160平方英尺(约合15平方米)的海运集装箱组成的村庄，而这里的集装箱与在奥克兰港使用的那些并无二致。每个居民每月支付600美元(约合3800元人民币)就可入住一座集装箱。它经过改造，带有保温设施、玻璃门、电源插座、太阳能电池板，以及独立的淋浴间和厕所。

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

“集装箱乌托邦由32岁的卢克·伊斯曼(Luke Iseman)和30岁的希瑟·斯图尔特(Heather Stewart)在去年创办。他们二人当时是一对。伊斯曼毕业于宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿商学院(University of Pennsylvania’sWharton School)，并在科技界工作。他最近在开发自动浇灌植物的系统。对于伊斯曼来说，集装箱的生活是剥离到基本需求的社会实验。他希望能够教会更多人仿效。

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

“这里是世上生活成本最高的地方之一。如果我们在这里可以办到，那世上任何地方都可以，他说。

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

仓库大门外面不远处是另一片社区，也是居住在某种箱盒里。在这里，无家可归者生活在当地艺术家格雷戈·克勒恩(Gregory Kloehn)制作的居所中。这种睡箱有轮子，特意为街边生活打造。每间大约八英尺长(约合2.4米)，高度能让一个人坐起来。

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

44岁的克勒恩说：“这并不符合我们心中家的概念。他在2011年开始制作和赠送由再造材料建成的活动屋。根据帮助无家可归者的非营利性组织东奥克兰社区项目(East Oakland Community Project)提供的数据，奥克兰大约有3000名无家可归的人;旧金山大约有6700名。

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

克勒恩建成了约40座色彩缤纷的移动住房，吸引流浪者离开他们在街上搭的纸板或篷布棚户。

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

他说，“这座城市很富有，但它还有另外一面：这些流浪者靠着我们的垃圾生存。

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

“集装箱乌托邦和克勒恩的移动收容所受到了微型住所运动的启发。这是一种转向更清苦的生活方式的运动，激发了在华盛顿州奥林匹亚和威斯康星州麦迪逊等地的整片微小居所村庄，以及无数在后院的单个例子。这样的住所得到了提倡生态和社会正义的人士的拥护，但往往受地方政府打击。这是因为它们通常不符合建筑规范，或者突然在不合适的地方冒出来。

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

然而，这就是流浪者的住处和海运集装箱之间的不同之处。虽然都在同一个街区，它们却有天壤之别。

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

斯图尔特和伊斯曼最初在一处废弃空地设立了“集装箱乌托邦。他们和几个朋友花了42.5万美元买下了这片空地。在邻居抱怨后，他们被迫在今年春天迁出。(该地段不是住宅用地;现在，决定如何处理它之前，业主在那里种菜。)

Then, with 12 of their friends and a forklift, Mr. Iseman and Ms. Stewart moved the containerhomes 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 aredwood board she milled from a giant trunk.

后来，伊斯曼和斯图尔特与12位朋友用一部铲车，把集装箱通通搬进了一座仓库内。伊斯曼的家里刷上了天蓝色，里面有一张高脚床，其中一侧有一户观景窗，总共花了大约1.2万美元来变得适合居住。斯图尔特的居所还在改造，她在板墙上抹墙粉，把大树桩压成红木板，再把它做成厨房桌面。

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 herpossessions.

从住房子变成住集装箱，他们为此几乎要重新安排一切。为了打理“集装箱乌托邦，斯图尔特辞掉了数字设计的工作，还卖掉了多数家当。

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

她说，“我可以坐在办公室工作，每个月交房租，因为无法做其他任何事情而压力巨大。或者我可以住在一个好笑的仓库里。应该选择哪个?答案很明显。

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

艺术家克勒恩因为他的货柜屋出名。它是由垃圾箱改造成的一室公寓房，坐落在布鲁克林红钩区的一片艺术品聚集地。克勒恩每年有一部分时间待在这里。他的另一个家是间工作室，跟“集装箱乌托邦位于奥克兰的同一个工业区里。

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

几年前，无家可归者善用仅有的资源——就是别人眼中的垃圾——创造栖身之所的方法开始让克勒恩深感兴趣。他决定仿效，运用艺术家的手艺打造出一个个小型住处。

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

“我只是从无家可归者那里偷学了一点，他说。“他们很久以前就在用这些东西造家。

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

另一位艺术家埃尔维斯·桑默斯(Elvis Summers)以前也在洛杉矶一带为无家可归者制造类似的小窝。可是当地政府坚决把这些住所视为违法;很多这类小窝搬到了私人物业之上，否则环卫工作者会把它们从街上清走。

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? Orwould they be nowhere?

克勒恩说，打击这类住所是因为受到误导。他替小窝的居住者问，要是这些住所被禁，“他们会住进房子吗?他们会住进共管公寓吗?还是他们会没有容身之地呢?

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

在奥克兰，活动屋一直是大致受到接纳的。几个居民说偶尔会有警察要求他们把活动屋拖到其他地方，但除此之外并无其他麻烦。

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

在距离克勒恩的奥克兰工作室一个街区的地方，就在“集装箱乌托邦附近，放置了克勒恩为无家可归者打造的一个睡箱。表面色彩鲜艳的错视画让它像是缩小版的郊区住宅似的。

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

住在这里的女士说，“这屋子是上帝的恩赐。她不愿说出名字，因为她曾有过一份稳定的工作和一个真正的家，但如今沦落街头让她感到很羞耻。

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

她还说，“这样做就是在尝试找回我以前的生活。