Micro Condo Initiative
More Seattleites are living alone in apartments that they cannot afford that are appreciating out from under them without gaining any equity or credit history. One alternative is public housing, but that just makes tenants wards of the state. I like the idea of housing vouchers, but apartment owners fear tenants with vouchers and nothing will change that. Plus, neither answer will allow the working poor to become homeowners.
There is also the issue of supply. Seattle's continued inflation of zoning requirements for new condos and apartments raise the construction cost and reduce the supply of micro housing (or Small Efficiency Dwelling Units) has throttled the supply of housing for the working poor.
Added to this is America's ever growing definition of the adequate square footage for a living space. Between the 1950s and now, the average size of the American house has grown from about a thousand square feet to over twenty five hundred square feet. That's more than double. Dude, American's needs didn't grow, American's egos grew.
I propose a program to build a supply of micro condos that could be sold to the working poor. The county could raise the funds through government bonds. Each individual could finance their unit through a private bank loan.
I know that people aren't supposed to live alone. However, one of the benefits of having your own residents (even if it has a mortgage) is the possibility of someone else moving in with you. Then, about half the time, nature will take over and they will end up with a "third person". However, by that time, they may have enough equity in their condo to make a down payment on a larger residents. They will sell their micro condo to another member of the working class, thus completing the cycle.
I know all Americans (even Seattleites) will demand expensive and space consuming parking spaces. News flash: this is Seattle, not everyone needs to have a car, especially people who live within walking distance of our new light rail stations. Seattle could build the new units within a quarter mile of a light rail station. In lue of parking spaces, the sale of the condos could include deed restrictions restricting private car ownership and commuting by private car to a maximum of one day a week.
I know that this is not the ideal home. I know that Americans want a four bedroom suburban house with a back yard. The Seattle area doesn't have the land or the money to house all of its growing population without growing density and downsizing costs. The alternative is more tent cities. Think about that