Raft Houses

Purpose / Function

After Alzilzal, most of the southern ports in El Brazo were destroyed. So many homes and business were built quickly with cheap lumber and mumbled prayers. The tsunamis and aftershocks tore them to the ground. Clean up began almost immediately, but just as quickly refugees from Izquierda started pouring in. They came in overstuffed cargo ships, clinging to the sides in shifts, trying to save as many people as they could. The Brazoso had no place to put them.
They said the solution solved two problems at once. Take the cheap lumber from the wreckage, nail it together, slap some pitch on it, and would you look at that. It floats! Add some more wreckage for walls, a sheet of tin(mostly likely also from the wreckage) for the roof, and voila. One temporary home for one refugee family. Link the rafts together and you can have a makeshift village. In theory, this would give time to rebuild the city and gently integrate the newcomers into society.
In practice, that perfect theory was introduced to people. And people suck.

Alterations

In nine out of ten cities the plan was implemented in, the pitch was skipped. Now, water-proofing your water-borne houses might seems like a good idea, but pitch cost money and that's money that could be used to rebuilding your messed-up city. Besides it was only supposed to be a temporary solution.
Next, materials ran out far sooner than expected. Surprise, surprise, most of what was still salvageable was flagged for rebuilding, not for freeloaders. Some cities powered through with the plan, importing more supplies for the raft houses. Most didn't. A census of the floating slums taken five years after the Quake showed that most raft houses were home to as many nine families at a time.
The plan showed it's biggest flaw as time went on. It wasn't well understood at first, but Alzilzal kicked off a miniature ice age. Crops failed. Famine spread. Plague followed. People blamed the Izquierdana. Afterall, the quake had started right under their feet hadn't it? The Almighty had brought his hand down in punishment, maybe it was up to the people to finish what he had started. The riots that followed are some of the blackest moments in Brazoso history. When it was all done, many thought that integration was out of the question. Izquierdana were were confined to the raft houses for their own safety. At least that's what they were told.
The floating slums eventually became a staple of Brazoso port towns. They've been built up over the years, rotting boards replaced, sturdier materials found. Shops and businesses can be found, interspersed amongst the homes. It's less crowded too, some going to new colonies in the old homeland, and some moving to shore after the segregation laws were relaxed. It's far from perfect though. Crime rates are high, poverty rates even higher. But there's a heartbeat there. A culture flourishes in the raft houses like no other in Elcadaver.

Architecture

I like that you're implying an architect was consulted. It's cute.

Alternative Names

Casas Balsas

Type

Hut