Developing a system for highly affordable, ownable, starter, tiny houses; for backyard cottages, villages, cottage clusters. etc. @tmccormick @housingalterna
Last year, @nbrhoodwrkshop & I estimated the minimum rent to create each of 7 newly legalized living options in PDX.
I'd spent half my 30s fighting to legalize 4plexes, But they were blown out of the water by one that pencils at $464/month: a backyard RV w/ utility hookups.
"And bans on movable homes specifically deny people having a longer-term or permanent home when their needs, wishes, and opportunities lead them to relocate."
Sometimes, mobility of one's dwelling is a path to *more* stability in one's life.
"Just as other exclusionary zoning practices like minimum lot sizes force many people to pay for more land than they want or need, exclusion of smaller and movable homes forces many people to pay for more space and permanence than they want or need."
This is a guest article by @tmccormick of @HousingAlterna & @vehicleresident. Though Tim & I don't always see eye to eye, he helped open mine to a blind spot I didn't know I had: the value, for some, of housing *mobility.*
It's haunted me since & I hope it haunts you too.
For about $10,000, you can own it.
It can turn parking lots to villages, then back again.
It can go anywhere with you.
But our laws almost always ban the simple home on wheels.
Today Sightline asks: why?
👀
https://t.co/bUxclrGGTO
@andersem new article on #mobiledwelling up at @Sightline. Thanks @andersen & team for inviting, commissioning, and shepherding this. The path is my shepherd, I shall not want.
@NickKristof on housing reform suggestion #5, "Normalize rolling homes," look for forthcoming article @Sightline on #mobiledwellings, 1st draft up now at https://t.co/b5ZfOhKtzz; & further down, #NewStarterHomes proposal for city program of low-cost, movable cottages: https://t.co/hoYrEDZ6Z7
Good piece about how to reduce the cost of housing and thus the level of homelessness, by tackling well meant but excessive red tape. https://t.co/tSslq9laPv
@mnolangray@OldUrbanist great points from Nolan Gray citing @OldUrbanist on restoring mass, popular housing forms. It's long overdue to question the urbanist crusade against detached or single-unit housing, & we do in projects #LevitateTown (New Starter Homes) https://t.co/Fq6yVvlLTe, & @BuildersApology
Lately I've been thinking a lot about how you get mass production of accessible, detached single-family housing, and I've been returning to this classix @OldUrbanist piece on lot sizes: https://t.co/UJMbzqLYuC
After considering a staggering total of 380 entries in four categories, we're thrilled to announce the winners of Low-Rise design challenge! Details on the winning entries, along with renderings and links to full submissions, can be found here:
https://t.co/XV49a0PtWt
@ebwhamilton@anniefryman@MyAbodu initiatives on financing #accessorydwellings abound: appraisal methods; new HELOC, refi, construction, renovation loan products; shared equity eg @dwellerhomes, ubsidy/assistance programs. I track some at https://t.co/OSnjC8xXP7, am looking to grow a pooled knowledgebase/network
@mattkahn1966#NewStarterHomes aka LevitateTown (pun on Levittowns) began as my & collaborators' 2018 grant proposal for @meyermt affordable housing innovation program: https://t.co/PA3fSWOTwB, living on in ways now incl advocacy for cottage ADUs/shelters in Portland cf #S2HC. c/@mp_on_housing