Posted on 11/12/2015 5:44:56 AM PST by equaviator
The Grand Rapids, MI, planning commission — which sees small apartments as a way to alleviate the city's affordable housing shortage — is adding the term "micro-unit" to its zoning ordinances and allowing developers to provide less vehicle parking than usually required in exchange for building them. Developers, however, must provide two bicycle parking spaces per unit.
Micro-units, the planning commission’s solution for people who make too much money to qualify for subsidized rent yet not enough to afford new, market-rate apartment, must be 475 square feet or smaller and be incorporated into a mixed-use commercial building, according to MLive.
Developers in Grand Rapids are already seeing high demand for the small apartments, in some cases advertised as "artist lofts" by developers. Max Benedict of Third Coast Development told MLive that seeing the response for the company's two available micro-units in downtown Grand Rapids was like "striking oil."
Providing developer incentives to build micro-units is "a market-based approach to get at affordable housing because if you're paying by square-footage, the smaller the unit the less you're going to pay," Suzanne Schulz, city planning director, told MLive.
"In an urban context,†she said, “your social life is outside your unit," she said. "(Your home) is a place to rest your head and maybe make a bowl of cereal."
Micro-homes, be it small apartments or tiny houses, are becoming the go-to affordable housing solution in many cities. Portland, OR, and Hawaii have both seen micro-apartment developments this year, and the tiny house movement is on the rise with lawmakers in Missouri, New Jersey and Washington, DC considering loosening regulations for, and sometimes encouraging the construction of, the smaller living spaces.
“But how do you back 25 “guest Mexicans†into a single unit?”
Pack it with bunk beds and rent them by the hour.
“...a tiny house on 10 acres of land.”
Lowes sells pre-fab wooden storage buildings that could easily pass for the trendy tiny houses. Just add your own upgrades and imagination.
They’ll even put it on your land for you.
Prices range from $3k to $10k, including delivery and setup.
Other companies online offer tiny house and cabin kits you can self-assemble. Takes 2 people about 2 days to assemble, another few days to fancy it up.
I know people who’ve built really nice mother-in-law units this way.
Yeah, man! He lived there for over 30 years. After 20 years, the time it took to build it probably seemed like nothing to him.
“more inane social experimentation...”
...with the desired long term result being wide acceptance of a drastically reduced standard of living and still have the same people voting for democrats. It’s change they can believe in but they won’t know that it’s change they shouldn’t believe in.
Degrowthers!
“And the Navy guys, “hot bedding” in submarines with just a bunk and inches from the next guy or a torpedo”
nothing like cuddling up to a MK48 to give you a warm fuzzy feeling! ;)
It’s a great story....
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