The concrete house shell itself is the least part of it. I'm sure these structures would not meet current uniform building codes, which are written to ensure a high minimum standard of housing. If the US allowed squatting or shanty-towns, like many other countries do, then the homeless would find or build their own shelters and that problem would be solved. Of course, these places have other problems, like sanitation - I doubt that indoor plumbing is printed into these Chinese "houses".

Homeless people live primarily in large urban areas because it's possible (although not easy) to survive on the streets there. In an unincorporated rural area where the land is cheap enough and regulations are lax enough for this sort of thing to be conceivable, there would be nobody to beg from but other destitute people, and recyclables would be scarce, as well as other services and resources that the homeless depend on. Anybody put there might have housing, but they'd have little else unless it was provided.

The Chinese require expensive and difficult-to-get residency permits from people wanting to live in their larger cities, and tend to forcibly displace people from their rural habitations to make room for real-estate developments. These 3D-printed concrete sheds might be where they'll end up putting them, and they'll have little choice but to live there. But I don't see this as a solution for homelessness in the USA, unless things change a lot here.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com