♦
street roots
Aug. 17, 2012
Fighting the big real estate
crash with tiny houses
BY DOUG PIBEL
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
ecently, the story broke that
foreclosures were at the lowest level
since 2007. That sounds like great
news - we’re finally cleaning up the mess
from the real estate bubble. Except for one
thing: RealtyTrac.com, a marketer of
information on foreclosed real estate, noted
in April that the number of short sales
(where a bank allows an owner to sell for
less than is owed on the mortgage) were up
by 33 percent from last year. In other
words, there’s still plenty of distressed real
estate; the banks are just using a different
method to get rid of them.
The fallout from the bubble and the
associated financial meltdown continues to
cause pain for a lot of people. The standard
question among economists is what can we
do to get things back to the way they were?
But it’s not clear why we’d want to do that.
There’s no point in trying to return to
inflated prices that have everything to do
with speculation and nothing to do with real
value. There’s nothing to be gained by
recreating a market where everyone buys
the biggest house they can afford and
maybe a bit more.
Why not ask, instead, what we can do to
create a different model for housing, one
that embraces the best of tradition and the
best of new thinking. Since 1950 the
average size of a new house in the United
States has more than doubled, even as
average household size has decreased by
nearly a quarter. The average American
now has living space just shy of 1,000
square feet, nearly the size of the average
house in 1950. Have our needs really
changed that much in six decades? Or have
we been sold something we don’t really
need?
While not a scientific survey, here’s an
interesting data point: One of the
perennially popular articles on the “YES!
Magazine” website is the story of Dee
R
Most likely to?
By Cassidy Morse
For the panhandlers to hate me
Williams’ tiny house. Williams moved from a
1,500-square-foot house to an 84-square-foot
house she built herself for $9,000. That’s
extreme, for sure, and no one expects the
majority of Americans to go that far. But
the continued interest in the concept says
that people are realizing that smaller is
better.
A return to smaller houses has many
advantages. They’re less expensive to build,
so you don’t have to get the biggest
mortgage you can afford to own one — and
your chances of ending up as a foreclosure
statistic are lower. They’re easier to heat
and cool, saving both dollars and resources.
Not everyone is going to build a new
house, and there’s a huge stock of existing
larger houses. But those, too, offer the
opportunity for living smaller. An increasing
number of people are doubling up, living
with friends or family — whether out of
economic necessity or the desire to
downsize both living space and expenses.
The nearly 18 percent of existing housing
stock that’s larger than 3,000 square feet
could be divided into multiple dwelling
units.
The Census Bureau estimates that more
than 18 million houses stood empty during
2011, even as hundreds of thousands of
people were homeless. Millions more are
insecure in their housing because they’re
burdened with underwater mortgages or
because they’re renting.
The real solution to the wrecked state of
U.S. real estate is not to try to get things
back to where they were. It’s to find
creative ways to match supply with demand,
to change the way we finance housing and
to recognize that owning the biggest house
on the block could be the American
nightmare rather than the American dream.
Is what I aspire
For those who want to work
But who would not hire
Cardboard chasing them
In their dreams
Signs all full of lies
Nothing is as it seems
Sad looks on their faces
When one leaves there’s
Another to take his place
Some of them call Portland home
And some of them like to roam
There are ones who are free range
But no matter what
They’re always there begging
For your damn change
Doug Pibel works as managing editor at
YES! Magazine. This editorial was made
available by American Forum, a nonprofit
media organization.
rfte frtondtiesP store, in towi
&
homeforward
hope, access, potential.
Two Public Housing Priorities That May Allow You to Apply Even When
Waiting Lists Are Closed
Home Forward is pleased to announce a new Public Housing priority for
households that require accessible features that accommodate a wheelchair. Families
and individuals who qualify for this priority can apply at any time, even when waitlists
are closed. This priority does not apply to the Section 8 program.
Households must verify their need for this priority by having a physician or other
licensed professional complete a Priority Verification Requiring Unit with Accessible
Features form from Home Forward.
The second priority is for households that have a member who has been
diagnosed with a terminal illness with a life expectancy of 12 months or less. This
priority can be used to apply for Public Housing and Section 8, even when waitlists
are closed. Households must verify their need for this priority by having a physician
complete a Priority Verification Due to Health form.
To request the Priority Verification form for either of these priorities for
* j r
Public Housing please call 503-802-8405. To request the Priority Verification Due to
Health form only for Section 8 please call 503-802-8333, option 7.
Applications will be accepted for both of these priorities indefinitely or until further
notice from Home Forward. Waiting lists currently remain closed to households that
don't qualify for these priorities.
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