They’re fun. They’re also way more difficult to build than they seem. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don't miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO Shipping container homes have been a trend for a while, from reality TV shows to housing policy discussions. But the truth is that these homes are a lot more difficult to build than you might think. It’s easy to think that housing solutions are purely technological, but many obstacles to housing aren’t in construction but in the policies surrounding homebuilding. Moreover, many of the supposed advantages of shipping containers turn out to be more complicated in reality. Vox’s Phil Edwards spent a night in a shipping container home to see how the experience of staying in a shipping container compares with the reality of building one. Further Reading: Mark Hogan’s 2015 opinion piece about shipping containers is a great introduction to the topic: https://www.archdaily.com/773491/opinion-whats-wrong-with-shipping-container-housing-everything Belinda Carr’s debunking of shipping containers gets into more building science detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7yEDz6bCfU She’s also an even-handed critic and made a video about five shipping container successes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkG3gmPUPQg You can check out Michael’s Airbnbs here: https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/329149776 Make sure you never miss behind-the-scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: http://vox.com/video-newsletter Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com/ Support Vox's reporting with a one-time or recurring contribution: http://vox.com/contribute-now Shop the Vox merch store: http://vox.com/store Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on Facebook: http://facebook.com/vox Follow Vox on Twitter: http://twitter.com/voxdotcom Follow Vox on TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@voxdotcom