Adequate housing is a fundamental human right, every bit as important as access to affordable food, potable water and clean air. Shelter Unlimited is dedicated to the research, development and propagation of free and open source solutions to one of the most pressing problems facing the world; the lack of suitable housing for our ever growing population. Open-source solutions are those that are peer produced by bartering and collaboration, with the end-product, source-material, “blueprints” and documentation available for free to the public.
Although there are real natural-resource limitations on new buildings, the vast majority of constraints on the creation of shelter are social, not physical. Ultimately, these problems can not be paid off, they must be worked off, and the the emphasis must be on personal and community self-reliance. By developing and offering open-source resources related to home-building we can greatly decrease the number of people living without permanent sustainable shelter.