US tycoon plans to use shipping containers to house the homeless

New York

TINY houses have emerged in the past decade as a promising way to house more homeless people for less money. Now the idea has gained a powerful proponent in the billionaire California real estate developer John Sobrato, who unveiled a proposal this month to build 200 micro-apartments for homeless and low-income renters in Santa Clara.

Mr Sobrato, who has spent much of his career building office space for many of Silicon Valley's technology giants, asked the Santa Clara City Council for exclusive negotiati…