Sometimes brands become so associated with their past that there futures are limited by it, such as Polaroid and Kodak, which have long been synonymous with instant pictures and film processing. Both have quickly become obsolete in the digital transition.  Brand experts often suggest starting with a new name altogether.  Affordable housing is one of those.

The term affordable housing has come to be associated with government-subsidized or low-income housing.  Why?  Simply put, the average

read more…

If you want a model example of how to blend a new building in with a landmark house (1907) in a historic (and very fun) neighborhood (Capitol Hill, Seattle), be affordable, transit-oriented and a green building as well, then the Pantages Apartments are a good place to start.  It’s featured in the American Institute for Architects’ new Affordable Housing Design Advisor website.

49 dwellings (45 in the new building, 4 in the historic home) are available as studio, one, two or three bedrooms,

read more…

Yes, this is affordable housing!  It’s one development that visually stood out from the Smart Growth Illustrated set of case studies highlighted yesterday.

In Aspen, Colorado, the wealthy bid up the prices of homes in the city (average home price of $1.7 million - that’s not a typo!), resulting in traffic jams and air pollution from the commuting employees who couldn’t afford to live there.  It’s so bad that it’s nationally known as the Aspen effect.

The developer, Curtis/Affordable Housing

read more…

The average area of living space per occupant in the U.S. was 290 s.f. in 1950, 446 s.f. in 1970, 800 s.f. in the 90s, to a whopping 939 s.f. today.  However, according to the Wall Street Journal, that trend may have hit its peak:

“The golden age of McMansions may be coming to an end. These oversized homes - characterized by sprawling layouts on small lots, and built in cookie-cutter style by big developers - fueled much of the housing boom. But thanks to rising energy and mortgage costs,

read more…

Necessary for cities to grow.

Let’s put it this way… Say there are 100 people who want to live in a new town by the river.  90 of them want to live on the 10 acre ‘downtown’ next to the river, while only 10 of them want to live on the surrounding land.  However, the ‘town builder’ never bothers to ask people want they want, and instead builds only 10 big homes on the 10 acre downtown area, with 90 homes around it.  Of course, the scarce ten downtown homes sell for huge sums of money because

read more…

It’s the same old story - creatives would kill to buy a home downtown, but they’re simply too expensive, so they end up in a less desirable location on the outskirts while all the lawyers and executives move in instead.

Enter the ipad (though the name may have been challenged by Apple), pioneered in the UK by Barratt Homes, and packing a whole lot of value in a tiny package, get it?

Granted, the ipad isn’t the solution for most of the creative class, but if you’re looking to own a cool

read more…

It’s the toughest question to answer in urban development, and the Urban Land Institute, a Washington DC real estate development educational nonprofit, brought together a group of practitioners who have invested in solutions, summarized in Urban Land Magazine.

Two key points:

- Mixed-income housing is unanimously the best approach to providing attainable housing.  The most reliable rent-payers in some developments?... those in the lowest income categories vs. market-rate residents.  For

read more…

Have you ever wondered in which city downtowns you could actually afford to buy a home in, yet still enjoy some semblance of active urban life and entertainment?  Rich Karlgaard, author of 2004’s Life 2.0: How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness has done some research for you, “Bohemian Bargains are core cities in the 150,000 to 750,000 population range with lively downtowns and a reasonable cost of living.“  My brief comments follow each

read more…

It looks like the American Dream my be redefining itself, or maybe the image of the single-family house with the backyard and white picket fence never really was more than a huge campaign by GM and home builders to sell more of their product to the masses.  It worked, but it’s weakening now.  Coincidence that so are GM and mall developers?

Census studies show that major metropolitan areas are losing population, and since the same studies show downtowns are increasing in population, it

read more…

How can one afford own their own home and live in the most desirable neighborhood (ie expensive) without making anywhere near the requisite $100K/year?

Young architect Marianne Cusato is making waves with her Katrina Cottage.

Key statistics:
Size:  308 s.f.
Price:  Less than $30,000.

Granted, this is for housing in Katrina-ravaged neighborhoods, but what’s interesting is that once people experience the home ‘in person’, they found it a lot more appealing than they’d expect…

“As soon as the

read more…

How affordable are central cities?  In a quarterly newsletter by Reconnecting America’s Center for Transit Oriented Development, this is answered statistically.

The map on top shows the areas in Twin Cities, MN that are affordable in the lightest color, when only housing costs are factored in.  The darker areas are less affordable (greater % of income spent on housing), and the darkest areas are least affordable.

The map below shows what happens when transportation costs (e.g. car ownership,

read more…

The last two days focused on Richard Florida, so let’s look at seemingly contrasting research.  People like Joel Kotkin, author of the The New Geography, and Jack Schultz, author of BoomTown USA, say more people are migrating to small towns that aren’t nearly as ‘creative’ as the cities on Florida’s list. In fact, Schutz just commented on this yesterday.

Well, they’re kind of all right.  Young people are still moving to creative centers (if you’re young and single, you know why), but they’re

read more…

They’re moving to where housing prices are low and the quality of life is high.  At least the successful ones are.

Entrepreneur Magazine just rolled out their annual Entrepreneurial Hot Cities rankings, based on the number of companies that started 4 to 14 years ago and have at least five employees today; and that company’s job growth.

Phoenix and Charlotte top the large city rankings. Ok, Phoenix is far from a model in pedestrian-oriented planning, but the housing is that inexpensive and

read more…

Sweden’s new contemporary urban village for a 1000 people, Bo01, is a model destination in many ways except its lack of affordability.  Unfortunately, that one shortcoming alone has seriously compromised the community’s original vision.

First, the good:

- The streets are walkable, organic in layout, human-scaled and oriented to surprise views, like in historic European city centers, with cafes and restaurants running throughout.
- Cars are de-emphasized, with less than one parking space per

read more…

That is… attainable housing that doesn’t look like subsidized affordable housing.  For example, homes in The Renwick (pictured) are said to be starting in the mid-100Ks.  Seems to be a great example of no-frills chic.

The area’s overall cost of living is 3% below the national average, yet the median home price in Charlotte is $169,400, about 10% below the national average, according to the National Association of Realtors.  What’s surprising is that people are making more money than the

read more…

Hey folks, just got back yesterday from a two-and-a-half week vacation to my home in Hawaii, then my best buddy’s wedding, so I’m a little late on today’s post.  I had the other posts running automatically.

I’ve been eating out quite a bit lately because of this, which makes me appreciate the handful of restaurants that serve up a one-of-a-kind dining environment and entrees less than $7.  Sea in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is one of those places (pictured), which at first look, screams trendy. 

read more…

Based on yesterday’s post that affordability is more important than anything in NYC, where does one look for homes that won’t cause sticker shock?  Perhaps something like at the Toy Factory Lofts in Brooklyn that started at $270K last year?  Remember, this is NYC we’re talking about, it’s all relative!

Here’s some advice from a NY native and urban expert, Kristin Russell, PP, AICP:

“I think Astoria, Long Island City, and DUMBO are defiantly “hip” and semi-gentrified areas.  (SEMI being key) 

read more…

I just spent some time studying Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and I have to admit it’s a great laboratory for creative, urban living, working and entertainment trends that either reflect or predict what’s happening elsewhere.  So… what’s the buzz in NYC?

Affordability, affordability, affordability.

“How much?“  It’s the question when it comes to finding a residence in a progressive New York City neighborhood.  The young creatives and entrepreneurs need affordable residences to

read more…

Gentrification: The restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people, often resulting in displacement of lower-income people.

With a dictionary definition like that, what good is there in a bunch of rich people pricing a bunch of poor people out of their neighborhood?  In a place like Harlem where only 10% of all residences are owner-occupied (average in New York City is 30%, nationally it’s 67%), not much at all.

However, in neighborhoods where

read more…

If your city needs job growth, it needs fast-growing businesses.  From 1997 to 2004, women-owned businesses grew twice as fast as all businesses in the U.S.  One in 18 women is a business owner, producing $2.5 trillion in annual sales, employing 20 million people.  What can your city do to attract the most successful of these women?  When Fast Company magazine profiled the top 25 female business builders, they may have helped answer that question.  Here’s where they live:

Alexandria MN;

read more…

It’s simple supply and demand - the more desirable a neighborhood becomes, the less affordable it is.  One solution is this - you can afford the home you will want if you choose a neighborhood that’s just a few years away from becoming universally desirable.  Use this guide for starters.

Now, the real question is, why isn’t there a greater supply of cool, urban neighborhoods?  The same reason why mp3 players weren’t very popular before the iPod - there aren’t too many real estate developers

read more…

Sometimes being economically disadvantaged is an advantage.

The conflict: More and more IT (information technology) jobs are being outsourced overseas because costs are lower, resulting in major job losses locally.

The transition: These IT jobs can be outsourced locally where costs are lower, but the talent isn’t nearly as concentrated in those areas as abroad.

The solution: Kathy White and her company, Rural Source, that links IT needs of major companies with large IT talent pools that she

read more…

Does affordable housing mean less profitability?

Not at all, but we need to make one distinction - there’s a difference between what we perceive affordability and attainability to mean.  Affordability often means government subsidy, as in, affordable housing program.  People are just a bit edgy about living in anything associated with the words ‘government project’ - especially if you look at the results.

The closest you’ll find today of government subsidy is inclusionary zoning, requiring

read more…

Beautiful apartments? Look overseas

This is at least true if you google ‘beautiful apartments’ - four of the top five results at the time of this publishing are in other countries, namely Europe.

Now, since the point made yesterday is that the most effective way to provide affordable housing is via multi-family, it would seem rather inspiring to find the most beautiful multi-family housing in the world.

What makes them beautiful?  It’s important to understand this from the tenant’s point

read more…

First of all, there are people with low incomes, and people with decent incomes who can’t afford homes.  The former deals with government policy/subsidy, the
latter deals with what the private sector produces.

The reality:  If you want to live in a great neighborhood, but can’t afford a 1500 sf home, what to do?  Move somewhere else.  That’s the smallest home you’re going to find in places like Silicon Valley.  If not, move into an ugly garden apartment.

The near future:  If you want to live

read more…