---
title: "Formerly Homeless Man Now Living in 3D Printed House"
description: "For the first time in the US, a formerly-homeless person moved into a 3D-printed house that he says turned his life around."
date: "2021-03-29"
modified: "2021-04-05"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/formerly-homeless-man-living-3d-printed-house"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "3d printed house"
  - "3d printing"
  - "the digest"
---

# Formerly Homeless Man Now Living in 3D Printed House

![For the first time in the US, a formerly-homeless person moved into a 3D-printed house that he says turned his life around.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/TINYHOME.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: ICON / Futurism\</em\>*

## Housewarming

For the first time, a formerly homeless person has moved in and is now comfortably housed within a 3D-printed tiny home.

Tim Shea, a 70-year-old man who has struggled with addiction and homelessness, moved into a 400-square-foot house printed out by the nonprofit Mobile Loaves & Fishes and the construction tech firm ICON back in September, [according to *Green Matters*](<https://www.greenmatters.com/p/3d-printed-tiny-home-homeless>). That's a huge step forward for the 3D-printed housing industry, which [has long promised](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/adorable-3d-printed-houses-solve-homelessness>) — but hadn't yet delivered — a new tool to fight homelessness.

## Getting Comfortable

Now, several months into his life within a 3D-printed house, Shea says things have completely turned around for him.

"When I found out I'd be the first person in America to move into a 3D-printed home, I thought it was pretty awesome," Shea [told *The* *NY* *Post*](<https://nypost.com/2021/03/24/homeless-man-becomes-first-person-to-live-in-3d-printed-house/>). "The very people I used to run away from, I'm running to. If you’ve been on both sides of the fence, you know some people just need a little encouragement and support."

## Breaking Ground

Last year, ICON shared a [short video](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MZcuMjZ2vU>) showing the concrete-spewing 3D printer at work.

The entire process takes just about 24 hours — completed across several days — and uses 20 to 30 percent less raw building material that conventional housing, according to *Green Matters*, so it would be fairly simple to follow up on Shea's new home with plenty more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MZcuMjZ2vU

*Editor's note 4/5/21: This story originally misidentified the non-profit organization that partnered with ICON and misstated how long it took to print a house. It has been updated.*

**READ MORE:** [Formerly Homeless Man Moves Into the First 3D-Printed Tiny Home](<https://www.greenmatters.com/p/3d-printed-tiny-home-homeless>) \[*Green Matters*\]

**More on 3D-printed houses:** *[An Entire 3D-Printed Neighborhood Is Springing Up in a California Desert](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/entire-3d-printed-neighborhood-california-desert>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)