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.
Yeah....we call them Motel 6 down here in Georgia.....
These will be bull-dozed not very many years from now.
Move into a prison cell.
You’ll have your micro-apartment and meals provided for and they’ll even put you to work. No cost gym membership too.
What could possibly go wrong?
We’re getting more like North Korea every day.
I would have been very happy with that in New York in the 1980s.
Nah, they'll become affordable housing for Democrat guest voters. :)
The Obamunists considered Americans’ standard of living to be too high.
Americans had to be downsized (meals, cars, income, size of home, ambitions, size of family...).
A tiny apartment for most people sounds good - you can own a home without being locked into lifetime mortgage payments.
People want to own their place free and clear and enjoy it.
These ‘micro-spaces’ have been pushed now for several years. Personally, I do not have a problem with them until you have to deal so closely with your low-income neighbors! Low-income is also going to mean higher crime and drug trafficking.
I would never move into one of these types of apartment units.
Although, I would consider a ‘tiny house’ on 10 acres of land!
Home and Garden tv has been doing some programs about these micro homes-—some of them look pretty good, tho not for me.
They’re not for large families.
But for singles and couples, they’re ideal.
Live free of debt and live a simpler life.
Its an American ideal that goes back to Henry David Thoreau.
Don’t the Japanese have 8 square foot blocks that are used for “comfort” for those who cannot make the 3 hour train ride home at night? I think the blocks substituted for “short stay” at a local no tell motel.
The Chinese have it down to 50 sq. ft.
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/china-50-sq-foot-apartment-article-1.1199751
But how do you back 25 “guest Mexicans” into a single unit?
back=pack
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