Trend of Micro-housing Units in New York City - Research Paper Example

Introduction With acquiring land and building a home is becoming rarity there are increasing trends for small, compact and micro housing units. As the land became expensive as well as population trends increased, there has been an increasing focus on dividing the land in smaller units for construction of micro housing units. These units are considered as compact and are part of a new trend in the housing industry as they not only shorten commuting times but also provide housing variety to the workers and other individuals. It has been suggested that the increase in the trends of micro housing has been mainly due to difficult economic situation as well as the current levels of rent. High level of rent prevailing in major US cities are forcing many families and singles to actually look for smaller and more compact affordable housing units. In order to cope with the rising rents levels and provide an economical alternative to the individuals various cities including New York has started to offer micro housing units with rents even below $500 per month. These trends, especially in New York, may be attributed to various factors including mismatch in the overall inventory of housing units as well as the changing and different needs of the housing users. Combined with good designs for micro housing units, NYC seems to overcome the housing requirements of world’s largest city. This paper will discuss and explore the micro housing trends in large US cities with specific reference to New York and will also argue how they are important from the perspective of city planning. Micro Housing Units Throughout the history of mankind, men has shared and lived in small and communal spaces. It has been a common practice in middle ages for people to actually share the same bed and same room in order to overcome the constraints placed by lack of adequate housing. Right from pilgrims to farmers, small homes have been one of the recurring features of human housing needs. It has been speculated that going forward large cities and regions will be interconnected with shared economies as well as transport systems. The micro housing has become a global trend with cities like London, Warsaw and some major cities of China have already experimented with the construction of smaller housing units in order to accommodate higher number of people to have housing near city centers. (Kenna,110) What is however critical to note that in our modern era, our housing is not determined by us also. The various zoning rules, housing procedures and various other legal requirements have made the overall process relatively challenging. Compliance with such rules however is considered as necessary as they provide the relative leverage against the dangers and provide safety. It is important however to note that how the new micro housing units will change the overall housing requirements still need to be witnessed. (Zeiger,10) Though the overall housing market is soft however still the large metropolitans of the country are facing challenges in order to accommodate small families and singles. The increasing trends to live in downtown present a simple but challenging problem for city planners to accommodate the ever increasing population in particular areas of the city. One of the key reasons for the building of micro housing units therefore is the fact that they can accommodate single and small families to live near city centers and shorten their commute distance as well as people can save on the fuel as they will be driving less miles to their offices. There are two important arguments in terms of whether to allow the smaller housing units or not. First, it has been suggested that availability of smaller units will reduce the commute times for the working professionals as well as reduce the cost of fuel and other expenses. What is however also critical to note that micro housing units may not result into improvement or maintenance of quality of life. (Grinberg) Cities like San Francisco and New York are facing housing crisis and micro housing units are considered as robust solution to avert the crisis and help individuals to easily find housing near the universities and work places. The overall trends also indicate that student housing is also becoming a serious issue to tackle with and only a radical solution like building of smaller and more compact micro housing units can avert the overall situation. (Said) The situation in New York is relatively difficult because city has almost 1.8 million one-two households however; there are only 1 million housing units which can cater to the needs of such families and individuals. Such lack of available housing units therefore warranted attention of the authorities to actually look for changes in legislations. The number of solo persons living alone has increased too over the period of time thus creating a natural requirement for smaller and more compact units which can accommodate the higher number of individuals. New York City started a pilot project with the name of APT NYC which was focused on creating a new housing model for the largest city in the United States. This model has been based upon designing vibrant, compact and bright housing units dispelling the impression that smaller units can be dark and musty. The overall steps taken by NYC administration therefore are based upon ensuring that affordable and economical housing units are available to those who require them. (GROSS) The overall structure of the micro housing units in New York is typically the size of 10 by 30 foot with one window, a mandatory kitchen and a normal toilet with a bath tub, sink and normal size toilet. Though these units may not be able to hold full size beds therefore tenants are required to fit sofa beds in order to create a suitable and comfortable alternative for the normal bed used commonly in homes. It has been estimated that the average rent for such homes will be around $2000 per month which to many may not be an affordable housing at all. Micro-subletting has also become one of the important trends in the New York area where people are letting their rooms on individual basis to accommodate single individuals to live. This has relatively turned into a lucrative business with renting out the extra space available in home. It has been suggested that low quality of life should not be correlated with that of the size of the housing units. Those who advocate the use of micro-housing units suggest that it depends upon the overall design which goes behind the development and construction of such housing units which make them suitable for the purpose of living. Other large cities such as Tokyo have actually tackled this problem by effectively utilizing almost every area of the space in a manner which can allow people to easily live in small spaces. (Fortune and Moohan,381) It is also critical to understand that more concentrated housing units are considered as critical for the conservation and protection of the environment. By living in more concentrated spaces, cities can actually reduce their overall environmental degradation and conserve the land from further use. From this perspective, micro housing units therefore are considered environment friendly and can contribute towards the conservation of land as well as the protection of environment from any further damage by restricting the exploitation of unfilled land areas scattered at different places in any large metropolitan city. New York is also important because city is considered as famous for already having smaller housing units. Further reducing the size of the housing units therefore may further result into the congestion and increase the concentration. What is critical however to note that population of New York is on the rise and therefore it becomes practical reality for New York to continue to support for the building of smaller micro units. It has been suggested that increasing population of the city has actually made a case for building smaller units because they form the part of the scalable housing model which can cater to the needs of the city. In cities like San Francisco, rents have sky rocketed because more and more tech entrepreneurs are descending on the city. The increase in the rents therefore have resulted into shortage of housing specially for one-to two person families and city therefore has also started to experiment with the smaller housing units. (Galante) What is critical to note that in order to accommodate people to live in micro apartments, it is important to help people to use the space creatively? Without learning to use the space creatively, It may become relatively not possible to manage the space to the optimal use. Creative uses such has having pop-up tables, moving walls can actually help to better utilize the space and help people to live in better manner while utilizing the available space. Legislations on Housing One of the key obstacles in the way to allow mass construction of smaller units in large cities was the zoning and housing rules. These rules effectively prevented different players in the market to develop such units. Various legal requirements such as size of the housing units were not considered as meeting the requirements set under the laws. Such legal factors therefore directly resulted into lack of developing any local micro housing units. Many cities and States have legal requirements in terms of size and facilities which need to be available in the housing units. The smaller and micro housing units lack is not only smaller in size as compared to standard sizes. Legally, such houses are made as second dwellings and are allowed to be constructed outside the house thus actually restricting their ability to grow. However to overcome this situation various cities including New York has relaxed various regulations in order to allow the construction of such housing units. What is critical to understand that behind this trend is the backing of the local city governments which are actively engaged into the overall processing of seeing through this development. Since most of the projects are being started at the local level therefore laws have been changed easily to accommodate the new changes and to create homes which can cater to the needs of the city. (Kim) Impact on the City Planning It is critical to understand that large global cities are experiencing an increase in population and more and more local as well as global workforce is moving towards those cities. In an ever increasing population scenario, cities can either actually construct large or sky rocketing building to accommodate the population or build smaller micro housing units. Building of smaller micro housing units have actually not only solved the population issue but is also contributing towards the improvement of overall environment of the city also. Over the period of time, industrial activity combined with a robust but bulging work force. More and more people are coming to the global cities therefore creating serious issues for helping people to find adequate space to live. Smaller homes therefore not only help the cities to have more space to create other amenities for the residents but also make the whole city more manageable. Conclusion Since long, mankind has been living in smaller housing units in order to better utilize the space or due to other issues. However these trends changes slightly as bigger building and homes were created for housing purpose. As the trends further changed, global cities like New York and San Francisco are increasingly facing the housing shortages and higher level of rents. With the passage of time and as the workforce became global, it has increasingly become difficult to accommodate more people in the existing space. Cities like New York therefore have considered the development and construction of smaller and compact micro housing units in order to help one to two person families and single persons to easily find accommodation. New York local administration have made plans and proposed changes in the existing regulations in order to allow the construction of smaller micro housing units. These units are believed to be reducing the housing shortages for the one-to- two people’s families in New York and other cities. Works Cited Fortune, Charlotte Catherine and James Anthony John Moohan. "International variations in new housing supply." International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis 1.4 (2008): 379 - 392. Galante, Meredith. Why Micro Apartments Are The Next Big Trend In City Living. 06 November 2012. 10 January 2013 . Grinberg, Emanuella. Tiny homes hit the big city. 21 September 2012. 10 Jan 2013 . Gross, Samantha. NYC Apartments To Get Smaller In Size, Bloomberg Asks For 'Micro-Apartments'. 09 July 2012. 10 Jan 2013 . Kenna, Padraic. "Can housing rights be applied to modern housing systems?" International Journal of Law in the Built Environment 2.2 (2010): 103 - 117. Kim, Pauline. NYC mayor: Diminutive dwelling design wanted. 10 July 2012. 10 Jan 2013 . Said, Carolyn. Micro-apartments next for S.F.? 13 July 2012. 10 Jan 2013 . Zeiger, Mimi. Micro Green: Tiny Houses in Nature. New York: Rizzoli Universe Int. Pub, 2011. Read More