It's hard to remember that just a few decades ago it was difficult, if not impossible, for a woman alone to take out a mortgage. Federal legislation changed that.

And yet, it's still surprising to learn how dominant single women have become in the housing market today: Their share is second only to married couples, and twice that of single men. — npr.org

Parisian designer Stéphane Malka Architecture has suggested creating affordable housing in the French capital by adding prefabricated elements on top of and between existing buildings.

The “3box” system does not require the purchase of sites. Instead, the right to build is obtained in exchange for renovating existing buildings.

According to Stéphane Malka, the housing would cost 40% less than the usual market price and could be built quickly and cheaply in workshops. — Global Construction Plan

In a fresh bid to confront a problem that has confounded lawmakers for decades, Los Angeles city and county officials approved sweeping plans Tuesday aimed at getting thousands of homeless people off the streets.

But one crucial question remains unanswered: Where will most of the money come from? [...]

The renewed government attention to homelessness was spurred in part by a 12% surge in people living on the streets [...] pushing the total to more than 44,000 homeless people countywide. — latimes.com

Tens of thousands of hard-working families will be forced to leave their council homes and find themselves unable to afford a local alternative as a result of government plans to restrict social housing to the poorest, according to research obtained by the Observer.

The devastating figures...show that almost 60,000 households in England will be unable to afford to remain in their council properties from April next year, as a result of George Osborne’s reform, called “pay to stay”. — the Guardian

New York City once set the standard for subsidized housing. The city started out building and maintaining tens of thousands of apartments for working families, sponsoring job training and social programs. It ran a budget surplus. [...] Now the Village is like a gated playground for runaway wealth. Subsidized apartments all across town are converting to market-rate rentals and condos faster than City Hall can build affordable units or preserve old ones. — nytimes.com

What went wrong in Winnipeg was not just about architecture, and 5468796 were stuck trying to make the best of a bad situation. The pulling out of government support to make Centre Village an actual co-operative changed the [project's direction]...'It’s time to get the peanut butter off our fingers,' said Ross McGowan, former chief executive and president of CentreVenture...He admits that a failure to understand the needs of the community took a considerable toll on the project. — The Guardian

New York’s Kings County is likely to have the most new apartment units delivered in 2016 of any submarket in the U.S., by Axiometrics’ estimation. Some 6,073 units have been identified for delivery in Brooklyn next year as of Nov. 16, a huge increase from the 969 that came to market this year. [...]

renters are able to pay the submarket’s average effective rent of $3,823 (asking rent minus concessions), according to October apartment data. — forbes.com

Santa Ana is the latest to embrace the granny flat; earlier this month, its city council directed staff to rewrite city code to make it easier to have granny flats, and to allow them to be larger. [...]

"It really is meant to expand people’s ability to help their families and to reduce the overcrowding" [...]

Berkeley city officials relaxed regulations to encourage granny flats in March. Pasadena and Los Angeles have also flirted with the idea of loosening restrictions on such units. — scpr.org

Los Angeles elected leaders announced Tuesday that they will declare a “state of emergency” on the growing homelessness problem in the city and commit $100 million toward housing and other services for homeless people. [...]

"If we want to be a great city that hosts the Olympics and shows itself off to the world,” Cedillo said, “we shouldn't have 25,000 to 50,000 people sleeping on the streets.” — scpr.org

WeWork, the $10 billion startup that leases space to startups, has bigger ambitions: it wants to rent you a "co-living" space where you work, too.

WeWork is busy launching its co-living apartments — known as WeLive spaces — in places like New York City and Washington DC, The Information reports. [...]

WeWork will offer more than 250 micro-apartments at that location, along with amenities like bike parking, an herb garden, and a library. — Yahoo! Finance

Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities on the planet. To accommodate a rapidly growing number of inhabitants in a limited area of land, the emphasis is on space efficiency – which often translates into extremes of verticality and compact living.

Alex Nimmo grew up in the English countryside but moved to Hong Kong three years ago. The contrast, as you might imagine, was sharp. — theguardian.com

the government’s recent planning policy – which could have resulted in property developers dodging up to £1bn in affordable housing payments – has been definitively quashed following a High Court ruling. [...]

the “vacant building credit” let developers convert empty buildings into housing without making the usual Section 106 contributions for affordable homes.[...]

The ruling was described as a “victory for common sense [that] will help generate more affordable homes in London” — theguardian.com

Luke Iseman, 31, leases a 17,000-square-foot warehouse in Oakland in which he has built 11 micro residences out of cargo containers, Bloomberg reports. He charges $1,000 per months for each of the makeshift homes, which aren’t legal, strictly speaking. [...]

“We have an opportunity here to create a new model for urban development that’s more sustainable, more affordable and more enjoyable.” — businessinsider.com

Pure House is among a handful of businesses that are renting rooms at a premium in exchange for access to amenities, a dormlike atmosphere and an instant community. For a certain set of New Yorkers, often new arrivals to the city with an income but no rental history, Pure House offers something of a reprieve. [...]

The arrangement is a commercial outgrowth of co-living, taking life with roommates to a different level. — nytimes.com

At what cost? The LAVA plan could be difficult to manage structurally, cost a significant amount of money and see Sirius occupants relocated anyway. But it could also be a more sustainable option than knocking down and rebuilding. — architectureanddesign.com.au