Tucson’s container home community finally has a prototype

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Using shipping containers for homes was just a dream for a Tucson nonprofit a few years ago, but now it has a prototype ready to go in the heart of the city.
From the outside it looks like any other house, but open the door and knock on the wall and inside you will find the skeleton of a shipping container. It has been a long journey to get here, and it is far from finished. Now this shipping container home looks like someone’s home.
“It’s very exciting,” said Brian Benz, founder and CEO of Wholistic Transformation. He said it took two years to get to this point.
“The whole means the whole person,” Benz explains, sitting on a couch in the tiny living room of a home connected by two 20-foot-long shipping containers.
The goal, he said, is not just to provide housing but also to support older people who are outgrowing the care system.
“The main reason people struggle is because they don’t have relationships and a good community. So we built 12 houses here to try to build relationships and community,” Benz said.
He said the city of Tucson told him he could build that many homes on the property next to Bethel Baptist Church at 15th Street and Plummer Avenue.
The two companies will have navigators on staff to help 10 customers. But he needs more support and hopes the model can show others its potential.
“We’re using this model home to showcase our vision to the entire city. We want the community, volunteers and donors to be actively involved,” Benz explained.
The model was completed three months ago and now looks like a house. Customers can choose from a variety of colors for cabinets, furniture, and interiors. The prototype cost half the budget — less than $20,000.
“It’s amazing that we’re 99 percent done now and have raised about $20,000 thanks to the generosity of so many people in our city,” Benz said.
“There is some uncertainty because we were trying to achieve this goal. I mean, it’s a big goal, you know, it’s the pinnacle, but it’s really just a starting point,” he said.
The nonprofit is working to raise grants to build the remaining homes and will hold open houses three times a month from September through November.