Find some impossible way to provide permanent housing to people at a cost of $40 a square foot. About 6.5% of all homes in the U.S. are full-time mobile homes. Albeit a national figure is misleading— it does not account for the fact that most mobile homes are illegally over occupancy— the number of people in the US living in mobile homes is closer to 8.5% to 9%.
There's about 20 states in the US who are close to or above 10% of housing stock being comprised of mobile homes. The Carolinas, New Mexico, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Wyoming are saturated with mobile homes at between 13%-17% total housing stock.
Out of all the 8,769,000 mobile trailers in the U.S., only ~1,500,000 are listed as being a part of a permanent masonry foundation. Another 1,500,000 are listed as "resting on a concrete pad." Over 5,500,000 mobile homes in the U.S. are on blocks.
What's mildly interesting about the concept of mobile homes is the rarity of them in other countries— they only exist in countries that has a developed industrial economy and in countries where social housing programs do not exist. While manufactured homes are often found in other countries, there's a fine line between manufactured, modular and mobile homes. But, overall, trailers (and caravans) are a very anglophone phenomenom with almost all of the world's mobile homes being in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada and Israel.
The plan of a mobile home is actually quite architectural astute— it's construction and execution not so much. It shares similarities with other housing types associated with poverty such as railroad apartments, shotgun houses, carriage houses and even rowhomes. However, typical zoning and land subdivisions are not necessarily compatible with long and thin ribbon plots needed to develop permanent variations on the 'traditional' trailer format.
As a zoning construct, most trailer parks are perfect examples of real estate communism as the parks themselves are not subdivided nor is ownership of the land usually possible— the co-operative arrangement allows for greater purchasing power when it comes to infrastructural upgrades and the density of the trailer parks themselves gives them political leverage. As such, many parks often have utilities and services not available to the average homeowner.
But, this all comes down to cost in the end. The Census Bureau indicates that the average cost of a mobile home averages roughly $58 square-foot for new construction. If we were to add in the cost of the land and the cost of the foundation— $12,000 for the foundation $8,000 for the plot— it pushes the cost up to $74 square-foot. That's essentially equivalent to the very low-end on permanent construction. Because mobile home manufacturers deal in economies of scale, a new mobile home has features and finishes that rival moderately-priced developer homes.
There's ways to compete with mobile homes but almost all of them entirely deal with multi-unit low-rise apartments, publicly-subsidized towers or creative housing programs. And this is a problem even with developers who make concessions to planning boards over offering a percentage of units at below market rate— they can barely get construction costs under $80 a square-foot when truly affordable housing needs to be under $60 a square-foot.
So, if you can find a way to build durable 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house that has closets with real-wood cabinets, decent-quality laminate and linoleum flooring and an adequate amount of fixtures for under $60 square-foot... you have your answer.
In summation, affordable housing is NOT an archtectural problem, despite the fact that it's a subject of serious conjecture in architectural schools. It's an ECONOMIC problem. Our capitalists here in the good 'ol US of A think there is a decided lack of initiative on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, whereby they can constantly negate/dismiss the plight of the lower classes by asserting they have created their own mess.
It's more or less like berating a drowning man for not being able to swim, and rationalizing that by tossing him a few bricks, he will be motivated to swim that much harder....
44 percent of all fatalities during tornadoes occur in mobile homes
44 percent of all fatalities during tornadoes occur in mobile homes, compared to 25 percent in permanent houses
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/killer-tornadoes-horrible-and-still-unknowable/
http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2008/feb/tornado.shtml
How can we build better?
Neither trailers or suburban houses have much input from architecture professionals.
umm... let them eat cake?
If you do buy a trailer make sure you buy one from Cullman Liquidation (1 minute video)
"my wife's boyfriend broke my jaw with a fence post, so if you don't buy a trailer from me, it ain't gonna hurt my feelings"
Trailers? Suburban houses?
photo via katemiddletonftw
Find some impossible way to provide permanent housing to people at a cost of $40 a square foot. About 6.5% of all homes in the U.S. are full-time mobile homes. Albeit a national figure is misleading— it does not account for the fact that most mobile homes are illegally over occupancy— the number of people in the US living in mobile homes is closer to 8.5% to 9%.
There's about 20 states in the US who are close to or above 10% of housing stock being comprised of mobile homes. The Carolinas, New Mexico, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Wyoming are saturated with mobile homes at between 13%-17% total housing stock.
Out of all the 8,769,000 mobile trailers in the U.S., only ~1,500,000 are listed as being a part of a permanent masonry foundation. Another 1,500,000 are listed as "resting on a concrete pad." Over 5,500,000 mobile homes in the U.S. are on blocks.
What's mildly interesting about the concept of mobile homes is the rarity of them in other countries— they only exist in countries that has a developed industrial economy and in countries where social housing programs do not exist. While manufactured homes are often found in other countries, there's a fine line between manufactured, modular and mobile homes. But, overall, trailers (and caravans) are a very anglophone phenomenom with almost all of the world's mobile homes being in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada and Israel.
The plan of a mobile home is actually quite architectural astute— it's construction and execution not so much. It shares similarities with other housing types associated with poverty such as railroad apartments, shotgun houses, carriage houses and even rowhomes. However, typical zoning and land subdivisions are not necessarily compatible with long and thin ribbon plots needed to develop permanent variations on the 'traditional' trailer format.
As a zoning construct, most trailer parks are perfect examples of real estate communism as the parks themselves are not subdivided nor is ownership of the land usually possible— the co-operative arrangement allows for greater purchasing power when it comes to infrastructural upgrades and the density of the trailer parks themselves gives them political leverage. As such, many parks often have utilities and services not available to the average homeowner.
But, this all comes down to cost in the end. The Census Bureau indicates that the average cost of a mobile home averages roughly $58 square-foot for new construction. If we were to add in the cost of the land and the cost of the foundation— $12,000 for the foundation $8,000 for the plot— it pushes the cost up to $74 square-foot. That's essentially equivalent to the very low-end on permanent construction. Because mobile home manufacturers deal in economies of scale, a new mobile home has features and finishes that rival moderately-priced developer homes.
There's ways to compete with mobile homes but almost all of them entirely deal with multi-unit low-rise apartments, publicly-subsidized towers or creative housing programs. And this is a problem even with developers who make concessions to planning boards over offering a percentage of units at below market rate— they can barely get construction costs under $80 a square-foot when truly affordable housing needs to be under $60 a square-foot.
So, if you can find a way to build durable 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house that has closets with real-wood cabinets, decent-quality laminate and linoleum flooring and an adequate amount of fixtures for under $60 square-foot... you have your answer.
no shit
In summation, affordable housing is NOT an archtectural problem, despite the fact that it's a subject of serious conjecture in architectural schools. It's an ECONOMIC problem. Our capitalists here in the good 'ol US of A think there is a decided lack of initiative on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, whereby they can constantly negate/dismiss the plight of the lower classes by asserting they have created their own mess.
It's more or less like berating a drowning man for not being able to swim, and rationalizing that by tossing him a few bricks, he will be motivated to swim that much harder....
i love the smell of formaldehyde in the morning...
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