Reading the local news this weekend, it seems yet another housing crisis is looming for my hometown of Cleveland. The city received much notoriety in the late 2000s due to sub-prime loans and the resulting “foreclosure crisis” as it was called. Entire blocks, even neighborhoods were adversely impacted.
Now the city is confronting a lead paint crisis and will soon start inspections of its rental housing stock. Admittedly late to the game, officials are trying to figure out a regime for inspections that will put a dent in the real problem of lead toxicity in children while somehow not displacing low income residents from aging, dilapidated rental properties that may be their only housing option.
You may be thinking by now…what does the start of lead paint inspections in Cleveland have to do with the small house movement? In my mind a lot and that’s exactly what I intend to explore via this blog. Can the ideas behind this movement be applied to “fix” the issues of dilapidated housing stock in older cites by offering alternatives? Or to address the issue of affordability in all cites, especially those undergoing rapid growth and expansion?
I’m not an expert by any means but I’m an avid researcher and learner and one thing is clear to me — the economics of the housing market today, the laws, regulations, tax incentives, financial instruments and all the players involved are simply not resulting in decent housing options for a large majority of the population.
The system is broken and all I have to do is walk the streets of my city to see the evidence. Or walk the streets of a small Appalachian town in southern Ohio for that matter. It’s urban, rural, it’s in cities all over the country. It’s working adults being priced out of gentrifying neighborhoods or only being able to afford sub-standard rentals. It’s young adults, in record numbers, living with their parents.
It’s a complex issue for sure. My goal is to provide useful information, ideas and to spur a discussion about alternatives to the current housing or “shelter” model in the United States. Hence the name of this blog — AltShelter. Thanks for visiting and I hope you’ll come back often and of course I would love your comments and feedback!
