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Building affordable housing

urbankchoze.blogspot.com

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Re: Building affordable housing

#11

Post by CapitalistCartr »

dhd415 wrote: post #6
CapitalistCartr wrote: post #5

In every American city I know, 80%-90% of the cost of an existing home is the lot, not the house. I don't know how to overcome this, but I understand it is caused by politics, suggesting it needs a political solution. When Florida was abuilding like crazy after WWII for the next 25 years, the lot was usually about 10%.

I suspect your familiarity is with areas that are much higher cost than average. I've owned houses in two different MSAs in the top 25 in the US and the land value was much lower than 80% of the total value. Land value is also very demand-driven though local zoning regulations (multi-family units, proximity to commercial zones, etc.) do drive some of that demand.

Yeah, my familiarity is with the city proper, original streetcar suburbs, etc. I know modern suburbia is cheaper the further one travels from the city center, but this seems just another high price.

Also, I judge the lot value by how much it would sell for without the house. The price for empty (fill-in) lots is ridiculous. I'm all for the market setting prices, but this isn't that. This is Federal interference and local building lobbying.

Re: Building affordable housing

#12

Post by ghaff »

_m8fo wrote: post #10
ghaff wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what land is your tiny one story home going to sit on (and be connected to utilities)? Of course, if you're flexible where you live such things exist and are called mobile homes.

There's plenty of land in the United States. Maybe it'll sit on some of that?

Sure, there's plenty of dirt cheap land in the US some of which even has electricity and water available for a possibly non-trivial hookup charge. (Or maybe you tank in water and use solar.) But the problem with building a house on that land (or plopping a mobile home) isn't the cost of the house. It's the fact that it's nowhere near jobs or other amenities people want to live near.

ADDED: The cost of housing in rural Nevada isn't what people are complaining about when they talk about the high price of housing.

Re: Building affordable housing

#13

Post by _m8fo »

ghaff wrote: post #12
_m8fo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's plenty of land in the United States. Maybe it'll sit on some of that?

Sure, there's plenty of dirt cheap land in the US some of which even has electricity and water available for a possibly non-trivial hookup charge. (Or maybe you tank in water and use solar.) But the problem with building a house on that land (or plopping a mobile home) isn't the cost of the house. It's the fact that it's nowhere near jobs or other amenities people want to live near. ADDED: The cost of housing in rura…

You make good points, but they're not super relevant to the article (if you read the article it's clear that they're not talking about big cities, nor are jobs and amenities mentioned, other than the point I mention below)

Re: Building affordable housing

#14

Post by tuanx5 »

athenot wrote: post #4

One thing that I've seen quite a bit in Europe is people buying "unfinished" homes. They pay a builder to build a concrete structure with a tile roof, and get it plumbed and wired up to code. But then all the interior finishings (and sometimes even the doors/windows) are done by the owners, by trading a couple years of spare time for substantial cost savings.

I heard about something similar in Chile on a 99% Invisible podcast. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/half-a-house/

Re: Building affordable housing

#15

Post by mrefish »

_m8fo wrote: post #7

Tiny homes are 150 to 250 square feet homes that that can be built anywhere from ~$20,000 to ~$50,000. The person who figures out how to mass produce these houses (each one is only about maybe the size of two RVs) for ~$10,000 will change this world.

I ran across the Reefer Home for $12,900 a few days back.

Description:

- 40ft x 9″6″ High Used reefer container.

- Bathroom with shower.

- Kitchenette.

- Electricity.

- Two large glass sliding doors.

- Security Bars on Doors.

- Painted

Link: https://containerhomes.net/products_prices/reefer-home-12900...

Video walk through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeM1ed7Wrl0

Re: Building affordable housing

#16

Post by ghaff »

_m8fo wrote: post #13
ghaff wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, there's plenty of dirt cheap land in the US some of which even has electricity and water available for a possibly non-trivial hookup charge. (Or maybe you tank in water and use solar.) But the problem with building a house on that land (or plopping a mobile home) isn't the cost of the house. It's the fact that it's nowhere near jobs or other amenities people want to live near. ADDED: The cost of housing in rura…

You make good points, but they're not super relevant to the article (if you read the article it's clear that they're not talking about big cities, nor are jobs and amenities mentioned, other than the point I mention below)

Irrelevant to what? The price of attractive but very compact housing on cheap land away from population centers people want to live around basically isn't a problem for any but a minuscule slice of the population. It certainly doesn't address any issue that a potential tech worker in the bay area or NYC has.

Re: Building affordable housing

#17

Post by _m8fo »

ghaff wrote: post #16
_m8fo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make good points, but they're not super relevant to the article (if you read the article it's clear that they're not talking about big cities, nor are jobs and amenities mentioned, other than the point I mention below)

Irrelevant to what? The price of attractive but very compact housing on cheap land away from population centers people want to live around basically isn't a problem for any but a minuscule slice of the population. It certainly doesn't address any issue that a potential tech worker in the bay area or NYC has.

Did you even read the article? This has nothing to do with big cities. The author explains how the development of infrastructure, notably highways changed the dynamic to sprawling suburbia and how suburban "nodes" link to the main metroplex in "second-tier cities." This was because of the fact that you can just drive further and keep your job.

Affordable housing requires affordable land. Big cities almost by definition do not have affordable land, therefore the housing will never be affordable in the way the author is asserting.

Re: Building affordable housing

#18

Post by leakybit »

_m8fo wrote: post #7

Tiny homes are 150 to 250 square feet homes that that can be built anywhere from ~$20,000 to ~$50,000. The person who figures out how to mass produce these houses (each one is only about maybe the size of two RVs) for ~$10,000 will change this world.

I could easily build a 250 sqft home for $10,000 excluding the foundation.

Re: Building affordable housing

#19

Post by ghaff »

athenot wrote: post #4

One thing that I've seen quite a bit in Europe is people buying "unfinished" homes. They pay a builder to build a concrete structure with a tile roof, and get it plumbed and wired up to code. But then all the interior finishings (and sometimes even the doors/windows) are done by the owners, by trading a couple years of spare time for substantial cost savings.

The idea isn't really all that much different from buying a "fixer-upper" though. A lot of people (like myself) buy a house in a location we like on property that we like that clearly needs a lot of updating and we do it over time, some of it ourselves, some of it (usually) with contractors. In my case, I'm not sure how much money had been put into the house over at least the previous 50 years.

Re: Building affordable housing

#20

Post by _m8fo »

leakybit wrote: post #18
_m8fo wrote: post #7

Tiny homes are 150 to 250 square feet homes that that can be built anywhere from ~$20,000 to ~$50,000. The person who figures out how to mass produce these houses (each one is only about maybe the size of two RVs) for ~$10,000 will change this world.

I could easily build a 250 sqft home for $10,000 excluding the foundation.

1. Why exclude the foundation from the cost? It's necessary, no?

2. Can they be mass produced? You should start a business if so.

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