In the United States, nearly every young urban single who is not in the top income quintile has lived with housemates. But is it really inevitable? Or is it a consequence of bad housing regulations?
In Northern Europe, it’s rare to have housemates. Instead of living in a 750-square-foot, 3-bedroom unit with two housemates, 20-somethings live alone in 250-square-foot units. It’s a lot more convenient to live that way than to share space with people I don’t know well: there’s more privacy, I can keep whatever hours I want, there’s no shower crunch.
In the US, it’s illegal. There are minimum apartment sizes (New York’s is 400 square feet), or restrictions on how many kitchens one building can have (as in Seattle). Even legal micro-apartments have a hard time getting permits – the NIMBYs want more family-size units. Those bigger units are snatched by singles living three to an apartment, making everyone worse off. A family, after all, still can’t outbid three singles — and the singles have to live with one another.
Alon grew up in Tel Aviv and Singapore; subsequently lived in New York, Providence, Vancouver, and Stockholm; and currently lives in Paris. His writings on urban planning and mass transit incorporate substantive statistical analysis and cross-national comparisons of policies that create functional cities. You can find him on Twitter at @alon_levy and on the blogosphere at pedestrianobservations.com.
Market Urbanism Report is sponsored by Panoramic Interests, a progressive developer in San Francisco. Panoramic, which is owned by Patrick Kennedy, specializes in 160 sqft micro-units (called MicroPads) that are built using modular construction materials. Panoramic has long touted these units as a cost-effective way to house San Francisco’s growing homeless population. But Panoramic also builds larger units of between 440-690 sqft. To learn more about Panoramic’s micro-unit model, read MUR’s coverage on the firm in its America’s Progressive Developers series. Or visit Panoramic’s website.
Market Urbanism Report is a media company that advances free-market city policy. We aim for a liberalized approach that produces cheaper housing, faster transport and better quality-of-life.