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Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

thewalrus.ca

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Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

#41

Post by Pet_Ant »

anovikov wrote: post #23
Pet_Ant wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

How about commuting? Pollution? School, hospital and other public services capacity? Crime arising from simply the rich place being affordable, inviting undesirables?

Those come from the savings from not having to maintain as much less power grids, less roads to maintain, less roads to plow, less helicopter ambulance rides to pick up injured remote people. Sure you need more city busses now.

Giving the "undesirables" a decent place and means to live reduces crime.

Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

#42

Post by Dork1234 »

seibelj wrote: post #6

The best solution to the housing crisis ever discovered thus far is widespread remote work. This allows people who don’t want to live in major cities the ability to live anywhere, reducing the cost for those that do want to live in a city.

I am surprised no one has a website that compares internet quality to land price when searching for lots to purchase.

Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

#43

Post by bjarneh »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #11

To 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…

That sounds incredibly similar to all "large" cities in Norway.

Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

#45

Post by bryanlarsen »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #11

To 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…

In the United States, a common refrain is that the housing crisis is caused by a failure to build, in particular a failure to build up. That failure to build is usually blamed on regulation.

That's a harder argument to make in Toronto. Toronto is a sea of construction cranes, almost all building apartment or condo towers, and it has been like this for at least a decade. Toronto has a third of all construction cranes in North America: https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2020/10/toronto-c...

And despite the narrative that people are moving away from downtown apartments during COVID, prices on downtown Toronto condos are still rising. Volume has dropped dramatically so I suppose it is possible that it will still crash, but I won't believe it until I see it.

Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

#46

Post by senko »

Ah, the difference between Europe and America.

Here, a 300-400sqft single-bedroom apartmant would be considered standard and suitable for a single or 2-person household with median income. A two-bedroom 500-600 sqft apt would be considered just fine for most families with 1 or two kids (esp. if those kids are same gender or while they're small). Anything above that gets you into upper-middle class or above. Alternatively, a 4-member family with two minimum incomes could get by with 400sqft (it'd be cramped but wouldn't be considered outrageously small).

The difference is also that these are almost exclusively in an apartment building, where your neighbours help insulate you from the elements, resulting in lower heating/cooling costs.

I'm amazed whenever I read an article mentioning home sizes in the States (or in this case Canada) and have to double-check whether my sqftm2 conversion is okay because I can't believe how much more room is considered "normal" over there.

Tiny homes wouldn't solve the housing crises, but looking across the pond, I'm thinking it'd still be a boon for low-wage earners. I know I'd rather be in my own 200sqft than have to pay off huge mortgage or rent a 600sqft of "wasted" space.

Even if I prefer or have to rent, smaller units would be cheaper, while still more expensive per sqft, in theory netting the landlord more profit for the same apt. complex. Sounds like a win/win, what am I missing?

Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

#47

Post by MattGaiser »

leoedin wrote: post #9

The idea that tiny homes are the solution to the housing crisis ignores the fact that the housing crisis is really a land-in-desirable-places crisis, and a result of a natural pyramid scheme which has emerged due to population growth and increasing popularity of cities (amplified by low interest rates). Tiny houses don't fix that problem.

Canadians have a strong aversion to living in anything but a detached house after 30ish. Most people were would have grown up sharing fences with their neighbors, not walls. So tiny houses allow for more efficient detached housing.

Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

#48

Post by Pfhreak »

Tiny houses might not, but a wholesale decommodification of housing could.

We shouldn't be trying to price housing on the market, we should be pricing housing and land based on how well it houses people.

If we started taxing the land rather than the land plus improvements and gave a credit for every housing unit I guarantee you we'd see parking lots turned into housing.

Other approaches include: removing minimum parking requirements, rent control, strong tenants unions, stronger eviction protections, publishing landlord statistics on eviction rates, low rise distributed public housing with protected operating budgets, right to buy laws, prohibitions or increased regulations around short term rentals, support for community land trusts, up zoning, tax incentives for increasing the affordable housing supply, and yes, mother in law apartments, cottages, and other permissive zoning for additional housing can help too.

There are very tractable ways we can chip away at this problem at a local and regional way. We shouldn't be speculating on housing as an asset, we should be ensuring everyone has a place to live.

Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

#49

Post by cmrdporcupine »

refurb wrote: post #19
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #11

To 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…

This is a problem that will solve itself. Sure, it will be a painful few decades, but we've already seen that shift. Toronto used to be the cluster of high prices homes, now it's spread all the way down to Hamilton. That process will continue - people will purchase homes in lower cost areas and businesses won't have much choice but to hire closer to those locations as well. That's of course ignoring the potential for…

It has spread far beyond Hamilton. You have to get as far as St Catharines/Niagara before prices start looking closer to affordable for middle class incomes. And forget about going north, my father in law is in Barrie, and fairly modest homes on his street are going well over $700k. That's almost as much as I paid for this 6 acre "estate" 8 years ago, and by my calculation with a 25 year amortization and with a very low interest rate and following the "housing not over 30% of pre-tax earnings" that works out to a required household income of $130k.

That's not anywhere close to average household income in Canada, which is more like $90k, and there are certainly very few high paying jobs in Barrie itself and it is only marginally commutable to Toronto.

Re: Tiny Homes Won’t Fix the Housing Crisis

#50

Post by cammikebrown »

senko wrote: post #46

Ah, the difference between Europe and America. Here, a 300-400sqft single-bedroom apartmant would be considered standard and suitable for a single or 2-person household with median income. A two-bedroom 500-600 sqft apt would be considered just fine for most families with 1 or two kids (esp. if those kids are same gender or while they're small). Anything above that gets you into upper-middle class or above. Alternati…

600? Ha! The average new home sale last year in the US was over 2,300 square feet.

https://www.census.gov/construction/chars/highlights.html

My current place is 650 square feet and I’m looking to downsize. The problem is, the prices tend to stay static, even if you want a smaller place.

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