Yes, if only America didn’t hate small homes

From the LA Times:

Op-Ed Could micro-apartments solve the affordable housing crisis?

Cities across America are facing a devastating housing affordability crisis. One obvious potential solution is micro-units. Adding density without affecting the skyline, they offer housing at a lower price point than is usually available in expensive areas.

Broadly defined as living spaces under 350 square feet, micro-units are an old idea being revived with new twists. Previously known as efficiency apartments, they are today’s successors to the boardinghouses of old — where residents often lived in retrofitted mansions or hotels and shared one bathroom per floor with a common kitchen.

Narratives of midcentury America often reference this sort of boardinghouse or hotel living — from the bohemian adventures of Jim Morrison and the Beat poets, to Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall and Sylvia Plath, who stayed at the Barbizon, a long-term hotel for women.

And yet, decades ago, in cities across America, such spaces were effectively regulated out of urban life.

In the 1960s and ’70s — a time of misguided planning policies that made cities less livable — many cities enacted laws that directly or indirectly targeted boardinghouses. A common ordinance was to declare any dwelling with five or more unrelated women living together a brothel. New building codes were developed that required larger minimum unit sizes and prohibited the development or conversion of buildings into exclusively small units.

These regulations led to larger apartments – and, inevitably, fewer apartments at higher rents.

This pattern was echoed in the suburbs, where larger minimum house and lot sizes forced the entry point of home ownership (and rental) higher. People were required to purchase or rent more home and land than they needed — and as a result had higher monthly costs to heat, cool and maintain the larger spaces. In hindsight, these policies seemed intended to create economic segregation — raising the financial bar for living in an area by removing the most affordable options.

In the past several years, however, thousands of micro-units have been built in cities such as Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and New York City. Based on the number of applicants for the units, as well as the low vacancy rates, there seems to be a considerable demand for this new product.

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57 Responses to Yes, if only America didn’t hate small homes

  1. grim says:

    Like we’ve been saying for the past 10 years. To compete globally, Americans will need to accept a lower standard of living. This is exactly that.

  2. grim says:

    You know, it’s not so far a stretch to believe that building codes are a major driver behind socioeconomic segregation, for many of the reasons cited in the article. Zoning for sure, but we already knew that.

    As code and regulation get more burdensome, properties built to those codes become significantly more expensive. But, at the same time, older properties are grandfathered, especially if they are not renovated. So, you create this dichotomy of housing, where there is seemingly no end to regulation and additional code compliance, etc etc – which will translate into the highest price housing stock, and the deteriorated housing, in the older sections of town.

    Cue regulationists to tell me that I’m wrong.

  3. Grab them by the puzzy (the good one) says:

    Trump doesn’t pay taxes. His standard of living ain’t getting lower

    grim says:
    October 24, 2016 at 7:38 am

    Like we’ve been saying for the past 10 years. To compete globally, Americans will need to accept a lower standard of living. This is exactly that.

  4. grim says:

    His standard of living ain’t getting lower

    Have you seen a closeup of Melania without makeup lately?

  5. Comrade Nom Deplorable, just waiting on the Zombie Apocalypse. says:

    What the author conveniently omits is that there were regulatory reasons, almost always promoted by liberals, that led to these results. Fire safety codes were a big reason for the demise of the boarding house. Conservation and water quality are tie big reasons for low density zoning in some suburbs. The 2 acre min. lot size primarily has to do with septic and well water—I don’t feel like drinking my neighbors p00p

  6. D-FENS says:

    The minimum acre lot size in NE NJ has to do with the Highlands act.

  7. Comrade Nom Deplorable, germophobic says:

    The leftists hate the fast food giants and if Hillary gets in, there’ll be fewer McD’s around.

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/mcdonalds-franchisees-reveal-the-3-things-that-are-killing-them/ar-AAjisxp?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=UE07DHP

    I seriously haven’t taken my kids to one in a decade. They never developed a taste for fast food (except fries) so there hasn’t been a reason.

    In fact, the only fast food franchise I frequent is Chik-fil-A, and I only went to one at first because the liberals were so bent out of shape about them. But I found them to be cleaner and with healthier offerings, and when you go to one, they are overstaffed with regular folks, not a bunch of snot-nosed kids or drug addicts (an added bonus when you don’t want your kids to get a side of Hep-C with their nuggets).

  8. chicagofinance says:

    I love the subject line of this e-mail…..

    From: Colts Neck PTO [mailto:webmaster]
    Sent: Monday, October 24, 2016 6:02 AM
    Subject: Mandatory Volunteer Training

  9. Comrade Nom Deplorable, who will probably get yet another TD rep soon says:

    Deal news–some of you may be affected

    http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/24/td-ameritrade-td-bank-to-buy-scottrade-for-4-billion.html

    Being a Section 4 deal, it means Richard Kim and Rodgin Cohen are continuing to rake it in.

  10. Essex says:

    “the leftists…” smh

  11. Comrade Nom Deplorable, happy to let someone else do it says:

    chifi,

    I don’t like volunteering for kid things (did that once and learned no good deed goes unpunished), so these regulations, applications, and all the hoops one has to do through make it easy for me to say no. I simply say that I don’t have the time for all this process just to chaperone a field trip and folks understand.

    Learned from a teacher that in California, you can’t even offer to drive the carpool to a school function (like an away game or a practice) without undergoing a background check if someone else’s kid will be in your car. Not sure how true that is but it is ironic in earth-loving Cali that they would discourage carpooling.

  12. Comrade Nom Deplorable, Calling Out Leftists for over a Quarter of a Century says:

    Embrace it SX, embrace it.

    Back to the salt mines. Some has to pay for the Twitiot’s obamacare subsidy.

  13. Essex says:

    i love fast food fwiw.

  14. Juice Box says:

    Chi – nobody cares remember Trump called someone fat years ago!

  15. Anon E. Moose, saying 'Come back, JJ' says:

    Grim [07:38];

    Like we’ve been saying for the past 10 years. To compete globally, Americans will need to accept a lower standard of living. This is exactly that.

    First pitch, first swing, hits it out of the park. Thanks for wrapping that up early, Grim, I’m taking the rest of the day off. :-D

  16. Anon E. Moose, saying 'Come back, JJ' says:

    Grim [07:59];

    You know, it’s not so far a stretch to believe that building codes are a major driver behind socioeconomic segregation, for many of the reasons cited in the article. Zoning for sure, but we already knew that.

    . . .

    Cue regulationists to tell me that I’m wrong.

    “Back to Back; and Belly to Belly!” – John Sterling

  17. Ben says:

    I laugh at the idea that we need to create train kids in STEM to remain competitive in a global market. The same goes for “creating new jobs”. Just about any new job we create can be outsourced in 3 to 5 years. We can’t have a higher standard of living and free trade with countries that have a significantly lower standard of living. There are a ton of businessmen who create companies and hire people domestically. Very quickly, they will find that their company will be put out of business if they don’t move operations outside of the US. If they don’t, someone else will take their business model and do just that, and then put them out of business.

    Ross Perot said it best when he said that a tariff that declines as the standard of living increases in places like Mexico and China is the only way to ensure. Anyone thinks that you can innovate your way to high paying jobs doesn’t understand economics.

  18. D-FENS says:

    I love McD’s and BK cheesburgers. I can do without the fries though. Also plain old hardshell Taco Bell taco’s rule.

  19. I never eat at Taco Bell. I am scared away by the low prices, it just can’t be real meat. If they doubled their prices I would try it. There’s also this:

    http://wreg.com/2016/10/23/michigan-husband-wife-collapse-and-die-at-same-time/

  20. I think there is something addictive in the cheese. I can go months without having a fast food cheeseburger but the day after I have one I want another. There was a time where I would buy two hamburgers (no cheese), toss one bun and make a double burger. It didn’t seem to have the same follow-on craving the next day.

    I love McD’s and BK cheesburgers.

  21. Juice Box says:

    something addictive in the cheese.

    Yup casomorphins opioids

  22. STEAMturd knows hyper incarceration makes hyper gentrification oh so much easier says:

    My guilty pleasure is a Wendy’s Frosty.

  23. Essex says:

    mcD’s reintroduced the chicken nugget. 6 for $1 … tried them. Tasted great. Tasted exactly like the old ones…..go figure.

    Daughter sometimes grimaces when I mention McD’s — she hangs with 1 percenters kids…picky Lil ***** but when we hit the window, it’s “I’ll take a BigMac….” Not an every week thing. But every once in a while, it’s great.

  24. Essex says:

    Oh, and SHE tells me the other day….Trump? Well he’s better than Hillary. Geez out of the mouths of babes. Apparently her Generation is the most conservative in decades.

  25. D-FENS says:

    My Kid is pretty picky too. He doesn’t like fries or burgers. Loves the McChicken sandwich though.

  26. Ottoman says:

    Because you lack the imagination to understand humans won’t need to do most jobs, especially drudge work, in the future as technology progresses. And that includes humans in third world countries. All you see is a race to the bottom for humanity fueled by the profits of your corporate masters.

    grim says:
    October 24, 2016 at 7:38 am
    Like we’ve been saying for the past 10 years. To compete globally, Americans will need to accept a lower standard of living. This is exactly that.

  27. Juice Box says:

    The kids were singing some anti-trump song on their field trip field last week, my son is well aware of who Trump and Hillary are even though I never let him watch the news. I gather the Teacher has been giving some lectures on civic responsibility?

  28. Ottoman says:

    It has more to do with artificially inflating the value of land and keeping undesirables out. You can blame it on any made up reason though. No coincidence that the lower a town’s density, the more right wing republican it is.

    “The 2 acre min. lot size primarily has to do with septic and well water—I don’t feel like drinking my neighbors p00p”

  29. Ottoman says:

    Thanks for subsidizing my capital gains and property depreciation. I’m sure Trump thanks you too. Also, since you’re so stupid, I see that I have to point out, yet again, that Obamacare was a right wing program. So you only have yourself to blame for its existence.

    Comrade Nom Deplorable, Calling Out Leftists for over a Quarter of a Century says:
    October 24, 2016 at 9:08 am
    Embrace it SX, embrace it.

    Back to the salt mines. Some has to pay for the Twitiot’s obamacare subsidy.

  30. Fast Eddie says:

    It has more to do with artificially inflating the value of land and keeping undesirables out.

    Looks like we agree on something.

  31. Nom – isn’t that like saying you don’t do any drugs except heroin? My late FIL took great pride in having never stepped foot into a single fast food restaurant. OTOH, he patronized a *lot* of regular restaurants as he insisted on having lunch out every single day. He had a very simple benchmark for the restaurants they frequented daily: A dry Beefeater martini, straight up, no garnish.

    I seriously haven’t taken my kids to one in a decade. They never developed a taste for fast food (except fries) so there hasn’t been a reason.

  32. Fast Eddie says:

    All you see is a race to the bottom for humanity fueled by the profits of your corporate masters.

    I have investments in those corporate masters and they are obligated to deliver my dividends. I expect them to do what’s needed to achieve that goal.

  33. D-FENS says:

    oh snap:

    @ObamaMalik
    Do not call them truth bombs. I am not my brother. I do not bomb anyone

  34. And that’s what the globalists want. Open up all the borders and let the billions evolve into homogenous drones to serve the masters.

    Like we’ve been saying for the past 10 years. To compete globally, Americans will need to accept a lower standard of living. This is exactly that.

  35. Hillary is back in hibernation. Levodopa dosing gives only 3-4 days max benefit, then she has to go back down for about the same period.

  36. HEHEHE says:

    I rent a condo in Hoboken. There’s some sort of crazy NJ regulation where they send an inspector out to view each unit every so many years to make sure it’s up to code. It’s not just “do the fire alarms work” stuff. I had to buy a chain lock for the front door since I am renting the unit. If I owned it I wouldn’t have had to buy it. They made some other owners re-grout and re-tile a part of their bathroom. Talk about some nanny-state bs. Was probably thought up by some state legislator whose brother owns a hardware store.

  37. walking bye says:

    When we start treating pets as food instead of family we will have hit that lower standard. Until then keep on trucking all is fine.

    …Like we’ve been saying for the past 10 years. To compete globally, Americans will need to accept a lower standard of living. This is exactly that.

  38. D-FENS says:

    How soon until NJ legalizes Pot, prostitution, and statewide gambling?

  39. Anon E. Moose, saying 'Come back, JJ' says:

    Footstool [11:16];

    It has more to do with artificially inflating the value of land and keeping undesirables out. You can blame it on any made up reason though. No coincidence that the lower a town’s density, the more right wing republican it is.

    It must be an intense desire to live among the hoi polloi that leads rich people in dense coastal city high-rises to live both high above the streets and behind 24/7/365 doorman-guarded entrances after they vote intensely leftist Democratic.

    Fool on, buttercup.

  40. Juice Box says:

    Get more popcorn.

    Hillary’s Mr. Fixit to be on Hannity tonight?

  41. Our daughters are now 14&12 and have never eaten a hamburger, a hot dog, or mac and cheese. Chicken nuggets, chicken fingers, fries, and pizza they have no problem with though. I found some white castle chicken sandwiches in the freezer the other day, they were surprisingly good and one of the best things out of the microwave I’ve tasted. You microwave the chicken by itself, and then add the bun back for something like 20 more seconds, completely done in less than two minutes.

  42. ^^^ I suggest honey mustard as a topping.

  43. Aha! Thanks Juice.

    something addictive in the cheese.

    Yup casomorphins opioids

  44. Essex says:

    2:01 once the robots take over there’ll be more time for that -snip-

    For most people, a secure, well-paid job is the difference between a reasonable life and penury. Today, changes in the structure of the work force driven by globalization and technology make this objective increasingly elusive.

    Technology has exacerbated declines in employment and incomes by eliminating tasks and “de-skilling” many jobs.

    Robotics and complex computerized equipment has successfully replaced skilled labor. Computer software is now replacing journalists, synthesizing news items electronically by crawling the internet. Even traders in financial markets are being replaced by automated algorithms.

    In the late-20th century, global supply chains allowed lower-paid workers to displace expensive counterparts in more developed countries. Initially, this occurred in manufacturing industries requiring limited skills. Over time, it encompassed more skilled jobs, spreading to services and professional work.

  45. walking bye says:

    all that talk about Closter NJ yesterday had me perusing the fine offerings in zillow.

    and their it was in photo 14, what Lucas and Spielberg could not find in their Indiana Jones trilogy. (260 Parsells Lane, Closter NJ)

    http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/260-Parsells-Ln-Closter-NJ-07624/37866582_zpid/

  46. Juice Box says:

    walking by – Tax records show that pad was owned by Avraam Russo

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avraam_Russo

  47. Anon E. Moose, saying 'Come back, JJ' says:

    Grim,

    This one’s for you. Instapundit files this under “The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.” (quote by Ronald Reagan)

    Think Prohibition Is Over? Nope. It’s Still Making Booze Pricy And Hard To Get

  48. Comrade Nom Deplorable, just waiting on the Zombie Apocalypse. says:

    Just when I figured footrest could not be a bigger tool, he surpasses himself

  49. walking bye says:

    Juice Box, thanks his life is very interesting.

  50. Essex says:

    For the record. I’d take a ‘small home’. Have one now 1600 sq feet. I love it.
    The house should be designed well though, a former engineer designed this place. It’s cool. Very inhabitable. Well constructed. And in a great location! Buy NOW!

  51. Ten years ago I thought hard about how to short the housing market, but I wasn’t smart enough to figure out how to accomplish it. Now I have another quest. Does anyone know how I might short the Boston RE market?

  52. Essex says:

    oooops. Make that ‘habitable’…Remember when people bought a home and it appreciated, then they used to proceeds to buy up or retire? yeah. Hashtag days gone by….at least here in NJ.

  53. Essex says:

    Welcome to the Middle Ages. Where Kings are Kings and you….are not….

    Cartier’s New York beauty is shining once again.

    The French brand’s flagship boutique in New York City reopened in September after two and a half years of extensive renovations.

    The building, which dates back to 1905, was originally a six-story mansion home to the Plant family, and is situated on 52nd Street and 5th Avenue. As the area became the commercial corridor we know it as today, the Plants moved uptown and sold the house to Cartier in 1917.

    Cartier refurbished the entire building with the help of renowned architect Thierry Despont. Wood paneling was refurbished, new chandeliers modeled after the originals were installed, and the 5th Avenue entrance was moved to the center of the building for symmetry purposes. The total square footage was expanded dramatically, going from 8,600 square feet to a whopping 44,100 square feet.

  54. Brazilian Butt Lift says:

    O NJ Expat,

    Short ESS, an apartment owner with portfolio concentrated in San Francisco Bay Area and metro Seattle, markets with similar economic and real estate drivers as the Boston area. ESS’s 3rd market is Los Angeles region but that market is diverse and stable and won’t drive the stock. What prevents house prices from crashing in these markets is lack of negative equity and local land use laws that prevent overbuilding of single family houses. These constraints won’t prevent overbuilding of apartments and falling rents though.

    Or you could just live in the Boston area and rent.

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