Is there sewer and water and power at the road?

Are you zoned for mult unit?

I just saw some tiny home offices (similar to a shed) that were about $40k each. Foundation, utilities, paths, disability access, etc can cost more than the unit.

Our zoning won't allow for what you are considering. Budget lawyers as well.

Pretty much every locale in the US would never allow such an encampment. No bank would finance such a project either and no neighborhood would stand for it.

Should also include cleaning services, ambulance, police and maintenance crews. They will be a wreck within a month without additional services.

Los Angeles did a project to house the homeless ... the last I heard it ended up costing around $600K per unit ... but I'm sure there was no waste and corruption involved! Most of the homeless in LA are due to drugs and mental health issues. Unfortunately most of them don't want to be "cured".

Depending on your location, there are often $1 buildings that can be purchased from your city in order to rehab them and lessen urban blight. They are already near the services that the homeless need, such as healthcare, food sourcing, and vo tech training. The buildings already have access to municipal utility services, as soon as they can be made habitable. Ideally, many of the future residents could be employed to work on making those buildings habitable, as a springboard for re integrating back into being housed. That is the ideal world. The real world may differ from the ideal.

You are basically setting up a property similar to a campsite or RV park, except with multiple sanitary hookups. Best thing, before you get too far along, is visit your county planning and zoning office.

While I commend the sentiment and effort, I would recommend finding a group in your region that is currently working on homelessness issues and discuss your project with them.

I strongly suspect the problems that Mark Bischak, Architect mentioned above will hamper the success of your project. These are the same problems we see with urban renewal / gentrification... Those in poverty need convenient access to resources even more than shelter. Plans that push those in poverty out of urban areas tend to fail.

If I have misunderstood the location of your land, I apologize.

Wow, so much negativity! The OP asked an honest question and obviously has a good heart. No need for the hyperbolic rhetoric. Not all cities and communities are hostile to group camping sites. In fact, many local governments and non-profits are trying to do exactly what the OP suggests.

But as a few reasonable people have suggested, it's probably not a project an individual should take on alone. Even if you live in an area with no building codes, it's a huge undertaking with many possible pitfalls. Instead seek out your City and County departments that deal with homelessness and see what they're up to and who they're working with. Locate local non-profits and faith communities that are working diligently in the trenches on this issue. I suspect you'll find other like-minded folks who would appreciate your passion and energy. Good luck, Dinah.

This is an oversimplication of the overall issue I’m sure, but imagine this:

Every mature tree has a root system at least 4 TIMES the size of the tree visible above-ground. How easy will it be to install the septic/water infrastructure underneath this fully-treed lot?

Answer: it’s not going to be easy. Or cheap. And highly likely to kill all the trees as their roots are cut and mutilated.

Trees can be pretty tough. I doubt you would kill that many but the density would matter. I suspect we are talking like 30 ft x 30 ft wide for each house. Most trees could tolerate that density of root destruction. Have you ever planted near a tree? Did the tree die?

Obviously this is region/weather/species dependent. I suspect less trees would die in this scenario than the typical SFH construction.