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There are two forces at play here. The developers argue that dorm style living (rebranded micro-housing) is the result of a new, anti-consumption mindset: “Peo
by roymurdock 11y ago
There are two forces at play here. The developers argue that dorm style living (rebranded micro-housing) is the result of a new, anti-consumption mindset:
“People have different perspectives than our parents might have had. They were geared to acquire as much stuff as you can. They buy a big house and fill it up with as much stuff as they can. It’s a paradigm shift. Our generation is not being geared to the acquisitional mindset. It’s more normal for us being able to shift gears.”
On the other hand, most residents seems to be there for economical reasons: the average tenant only stays 12-14 months, and it seems dubious that anyone (other than Steve Sauer) would enjoy living in a micro-housing unit for a long time:
“I certainly don’t want to live this way forever,” she says, “but at this point in my life, it makes it easier. I need to stay close to work, I need free (street) parking, I need something affordable and just the convenience of being in the city. A space like this allows me to be in the city without breaking the bank.”
Affordable housing is a big problem in a highly-regulated market with a lot of money at stake. If these jail-density units continue to proliferate in and around large cities, I fear that we are moving in the wrong direction. They are good indicators of the number of people who are willing to live in a 200 sq. ft dorm room because a) all they do is work and sleep and b) they can't afford the rent anywhere else. It's not a population of people we want to see growing in the US.
- netcan 11y agoYou're right and I don't think you can think of this in isolation of the cost of housing more generally… On one hand. On the other hand, I think the marketing schpiel has more than pure dishonesty to it. There are bigger "transient young urban singles" groups today. SSomewhere between student and work, lifestyle-wise. In earlier generations they would be coupled or living with family. Some do spend a lot of time working or just out of the house. So convenience, location and of course price are big concerns. Basically, people who aren't students that live a lot like students. Like you say price is the strangest current here. If you could rent a normal flat for the same money, most would. That said, I'm not sure if there's ever been a time where decent single person housing has been available at a reasonable price. Government intervention-wise I think the worst thing possible would be to try and shit this kind of thing down. That just takes away the option for these who don't have a better one. Use it instead as a canary.
- listic 11y agoI don't get it: what is "dorm style" here? What is communal exactly?
- forrestthewoods 11y agoImagine a building of ~60 180sqft apartments broken up into groups of ~6 where each group has a single, shared kitchen. That would be a communal kitchen. There might also be a communal living room. Specifics vary of course.
- listic 11y agook; I didn't figure whether kitchen and anything else is shared, from the site.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- tedmiston 11y agoIt's one of the most common formats for American university students to live in, especially during first or second year, where a study/tv room, sometimes a kitchen, and typically bathrooms are shared amongst multiple rooms of students. Also the rooms often come pre-furnished with basic furunture: bed, desk, and a dresser.
- jkaunisv1 11y agoIt's okay, we'll fix it with VR /s
- subway 11y agoIt's not a population of people we want to see growing in the US. As somebody who just moved into a 140sqft unit a few weeks ago, ouch. I moved here because I'm a single person and had a 1000sqft house filling up with garbage from Amazon. I spend my days working with my awesome distributed team from a coworking space, my evenings getting to know my new neighborhood and city (while playing an awful lot of pinball), and my nights in a small but quiet and comfortable apartment. My rent (including utilities/internet) is less than my previous Midwest mortgage, which is less still than the savings I'm seeing in tax burden from my previous city/state.
- roymurdock 11y agoSounds like a good change from a lifestyle/place/cost of living you were not completely happy with before. The proliferation of this type of housing indicates a problem in that many more people are forced to live in these situations. They, unlike you, do not have the financial stability to choose to purchase a house/take out a mortgage/start a family etc. I recently graduated and decided to live out in the suburbs in an unconventional living situation to avoid paying a ridiculous rent in the city for a tiny space. Definitely not trying to make a value judgment on the way people should or shouldn't live. Just concerned that the economic freedom to choose how to live and be happy is eroding.
- ghaff 11y agoI don't completely disagree but it also seems as if we've also seen an increase in people who feel that their life isn't complete unless they live in one of a handful of urban cores. Recent graduates living in really crappy conditions in Manhattan because they couldn't imagine living in Queens was a thing decades ago. Now we're seeing it in places like San Francisco and Seattle.