Imo, the fix for the housing crisis is for governments to invest in the economies of small towns and cities with lots of land that can be built on or property that is vacant. Everybody wants to live in sf, new york, seattle, etc. because they are where the jobs are and that also attracts culture. If state governments could give grants or tax credits for companies to start or expand out to other parts of states that are under utilized, this could cause people to move to those areas and relieve pressure on the overpopulated areas.
Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
31–40 of 107 posts
Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
#32There is no housing crisis. U.S. has more than plenty of good quality, large, and more than affordable houses (many of them are probably beyond repair but this is a consequence of their abundance and lack of demand). Housing crisis is only about the very few already overpopulated spots being hyper-attractive for people to move in because that's where opportunities are. There is no way to "fix" this because even if ho…
> Housing crisis is only about the very few already overpopulated spots being hyper-attractive for people to move in because that's where opportunities are. Why not build hyper-dense housing? If you have functional public spaces you don't need as much private space. We used to have boarding houses etc. I don't need my own bathroom, I need a bathroom. I rarely use my kitchen, I just need access to one.
I hear what you’re saying and maybe you’re right, but I would prefer not to live like this
Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
#33There is no housing crisis. U.S. has more than plenty of good quality, large, and more than affordable houses (many of them are probably beyond repair but this is a consequence of their abundance and lack of demand). Housing crisis is only about the very few already overpopulated spots being hyper-attractive for people to move in because that's where opportunities are. There is no way to "fix" this because even if ho…
> Housing crisis is only about the very few already overpopulated spots being hyper-attractive for people to move in because that's where opportunities are. Why not build hyper-dense housing? If you have functional public spaces you don't need as much private space. We used to have boarding houses etc. I don't need my own bathroom, I need a bathroom. I rarely use my kitchen, I just need access to one.
In addition to the normal pressures against boarding houses, COVID has dramatically increased the undesirable nature of that housing.
Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
#34The housing crisis is really a people refuse to leave Toronto and Vancouver crisis, no matter how little they make. It is also a refusal to live in anything without a lawn.
Imagine if San Francisco had wages which were often lower than Cleveland for many jobs, but had the same housing prices. That is the state of Toronto and Vancouver. Incomes there are lower than other Canadian cities.
The other issue is that Canadians are very used to lots and lots of space. 500 sqft per person kind of space. Lots of lawn for the kids to run around on kind of space.
Combine a refusal of people to leave those two cities and the desire for detached spread out housing, and you get this.
Wages can't rise either as there are tons of people who are willing to stay in Toronto no matter how relatively poorer they are as a result. In an economically rational market, people would leave Toronto over the costs and salaries would rise (like they have in San Francisco, where people have left to Seattle and Denver and remote work over pay not going very far). That is not happening in any meaningful quantity.
Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
#35This seems to be Canada focus, but the US seems very similar with affordability issues in major cities. Everything I am seeing an hearing about housing cost in the US related to land, labor and lumber. Cost per sqft is crazy high and getting higher, builders would be able to build more but there just isn't enough highly qualified labor in the US, and the shutdown is preventing lumber from being milled. We cannot do anything about Covid lumber shortage or the land shortage but we can do something about the Labor shortage. When I was in high school, there were shop classes, and home building classes that focused on the building trades. These classes were in the processed of being phased out to focus on students going to college and STEM. The US education system needs to focus on being an on ramp for College and Trade-schools and stop selling on students short.
Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
#36We need to start building tiny soviet style apartments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQgaCwrQQy8 Add to that some "coffin" motels. Once people have a place to sleep near a place they can work they can start moving upwards. My mom grew up in one, and I stayed with my grandma in one every time I visited. Sure, I slept on the kitchen floor, but it's not that bad.
Or we could stop putting everyone’s jobs in the same 10 towns and use a bit more space
When Obama asked Steve Jobs about those manufacturing jobs coming back to the US Jobs said it ain't gonna happen. The benefits of centralizing and critical mass are just too important. Being able to lunch with people and get into the same space to innovate, to read body language. It's to big of an advantage. Just like independent rural homestead living collapsed into small town and cities, small towns are cities are collapsing into metropolises. It is inevitable. Geographic centralisation gives you so much more efficiency it's undeniable.
> and use a bit more space
Have you looked at a satellite map of the US? So little of it remains natural. The last thing we need is even more sprawl.
Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
#37To put it in context, this is a Canadian magazine, and here in Canada the housing market is just absolutely insanely irrational. There has been no downwards housing price "correction" since the early 90s. The 2008 bubble-pop never happened here. Interest rates remain at record lows and the COVID-19 crisis seems to have led to massive _increase_ in housing prices rather than a decrease. It's a huge distorted market wi…
Housing pressure in the few "tier1" Canadian cities like Toronto will only rise, especially with immigration and presumably inflation from covid debt. Simply too many transnational millionaires and too few cities in Canada with opportunities.
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Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
#38To put it in context, this is a Canadian magazine, and here in Canada the housing market is just absolutely insanely irrational. There has been no downwards housing price "correction" since the early 90s. The 2008 bubble-pop never happened here. Interest rates remain at record lows and the COVID-19 crisis seems to have led to massive _increase_ in housing prices rather than a decrease. It's a huge distorted market wi…
> The 2008 bubble-pop never happened here. I live in the Netherlands and that seems to be roughly what happened here too. ~~I mean, yes the prices have dropped a tiny bit around 2008, but in 2009 they were at an all time high again and have not come down.~~ EDIT: This was a lie, turns out they bottomed out around 2013 at ~25% below the 2008 peak. I live in a 'provincial' city, where prices are ~40-50% of what you mig…
Prices in the Netherlands bottomed out in 2013, at 20 to 30% below the peak of 2008.
Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
#39Imo, the fix for the housing crisis is for governments to invest in the economies of small towns and cities with lots of land that can be built on or property that is vacant. Everybody wants to live in sf, new york, seattle, etc. because they are where the jobs are and that also attracts culture. If state governments could give grants or tax credits for companies to start or expand out to other parts of states that a…
Which basically boils down to internet at this point. Many small towns just have no or slow internet.
Water - Drill Well. Sewer - Build Septic Tank Power Problems - Generator / Battery Backup Education - Home School Internet - No Solution??
Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis
#40Is there any significant number of professionals who think tiny homes are a solution to anything? I am more under the impression that the people touting these were mainly arm-chair urban planners, more motivated by pinterest than safe and efficient resource allocation. Apartments are safer, cheaper, more efficient, easier to build, etc.