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.
Ted Kaczynski would have loved it.
I remember seeing the row of those Robert Taylor high-rises along the Dan Ryan during my military assignment at MEPCOM in North Chicago in the early 1990s. My wife's family is from the Kankakee area and when we'd travel down there we'd hope and pray the car didn't break down. The was the era before cell phones.
And yep.. I remember seeing the burn residue from some windows. What a friggin' mess.
Also (and you might remember this too), I was told the part of Comiskey Park facing RTH had to be enclosed because some of the "residents" were shooting from the upper floors into the stadium.
Write him a letter and ask him how much he likes it now.
Good God.. that looks like the makings of a mausoleum.
I had heard many versions of the Comiskey targets story, never knew if it was factual?
One of the projects near a factory with large refrigeration units on the roof, a favored target for the locals!
Putting a hole in a copper refrigerant coil produces a large plume of freon!
Oh how exciting!
They mounted plate barriers on the side next to CHA building.
Also Ed Vrdolyak, a Chicago heavy hitter attempted to move the CHA offices to the vacant upper floors of Taylor Homes!
For many years the CHA population would have made it the third largest city in Illinois!
Isn’t that where the Grateful Dead started off?
I remember Ed Vrdolyak well.. he and Ty Wonsley had an afternoon talk show on WLS-890.. I used to call in there from time to time.
So exactly what doesn't make sense about this housing?
“So exactly what doesn’t make sense about this housing?”
What you get for your money and why anyone should aim so low...in the United States of America.
18 wheels of justice :)
Hah!
This close an environment looks like a breeding ground for micro-aggressions ;(
That rig is probably worth more than my home. At least I have a basement ....
It’s not such a terrible thing. If I were single 20-something I would rather have this than share a larger apartment with a couple other people.
Ed and Ty, the pinnacle of radio!
Many days I would sit in my driveway, so as not to miss a word!
Clinton’s Secretary of (?) The guy could not answer a simple question and they put him in the trick bag! He then said ‘ I have to go to the washroom’ and never returned!
Yet another time it was some guy calling from a bar in a snow storm ( I was stuck in traffic),.
Ed says ‘oh you had a few’? and they had a pleasant conversation, it was enjoyable.
Sadly Ty died a few months back; they were the best!
how bad” is it in Grand Rapids?? this looks like something that Detroit might come up with....for the Syrian “refugees”
awesome m ovie-
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