Sacramento could be moving to embrace temporary housing for unhoused people, as advocated by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, at the potential expense of long-term housing.

The mayor said the new temporary housing units for unhoused residents will be built “at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the construction time of building long-term permanent housing.”

The SureStay Hotel near Mineta San Jose International Airport is proving to be anything but that for formerly unhoused residents, whom the city of San Jose wants to charge $627 per month—about 66% of many tenants’ monthly income.

The interim housing units for unsheltered people would be built out of converted shipping containers that are about 40 square feet in size. Each unit costs between $50,00 to $200,000 per unit and can take less than six months to complete.