Enough homes?
When do we say “enough” to new building construction?
The average occupied American home in 2005 — renter and homeowner, apartment and house — was 1,795 square feet. That’s an 11% increase from 1,610 in 1985 (big PDF).
At the same time, the median number of square feet per person in occupied units rose by 18% to 752 from 633 as the number of people per unit declined.
The current population of the USA is about 302 million. By returning to the cramped, miserable living conditions of 1985, we could house the next 48 million Americans — about 15 years’ worth of growth at one new resident every 11 seconds — without building a single new unit of housing.
By advancing to a more collectively oriented culture in which real estate investment isn’t considered the be-all-and-end-all of middle class existence, by opening up to more coop living or extended family living, who knows how many more could fit while increasing happiness.
edited 5:20 a.m. to correct math errors
posted by hedgehog in The Future, What Is To Be Done | 3 Comments
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