Dignity Village: US community bands together to give homeless people innovative new shelters

Around 60 people will be housed in the structures, giving them access to a communal kitchen and bathrooms

Seattle residents have worked together to come up with a solution to help the city's homeless (Getty)

A US community has banded together to create a series of homes for homeless people.

Dignity Village, as the Seattle settlement has become known, is a series of 43 prefabricated structures each the size of a bedroom designed to allow homeless individuals a chance to get off the cold streets for a night to recuperate and rest.

The project, built on land owned by the Lutheran Church of Good Shepherd, was sponsored by several local groups, including schools and university students.

Each shed will have electricity, access to flushing toilets and a community kitchen on the plot.

Part of the project – run alongside the Low Income Housing Institute – hopes to help residents get into permanent housing within six months.

The plot should be fully operational by 4 January, with around 60 residents expected to pay a $35 fee to keep the electricity running and for general upkeep of the settlement.

Although creators hope the construction will help those homeless most in need, executive director of the Low Income Housing Scheme Sharon Lee said they desperately needed more land.#Portland’s Dignity Village cleared path for #Seattle’s housing for #homeless https://t.co/HqOJcXwjHP pic.twitter.com/qmoybO6a9k

“We see this as a crisis response,” she told the Seattle Times. But, she added: “This is much better than living in tents.”