The WaPo profiles author Karrie Jacobs, a New York freelance writer who drove her VW convertible around the country in search of a dwelling she could afford — and wanted to live in. Jacobs, a founding editor of Dwell magazine, has just published a book based on her journeys, “The Perfect $100,000 House: A Trip Across America and Back in Pursuit of a Place to Call Home.”
Jacobs found that the vast majority of home builders are building big houses, not affordable ones, and most stick with traditional designs — nothing she’d be interested in buying. But she did find a few examples she found inspiring. One New Urbanist community outside Denver features a profusion of modernistic designs and colors. The houses were affordable when built, although the project has proven so successful that prices have soared past $500,000.
In Houston, Jacobs found an update of the old shotgun shanty, built on a quarter-acre lot for $150,000. The architect, Brett Zamore, is trying to turn his “Shot-Trot” design into a kit, which Jacobs figures will turn him into “the Starbucks of housing.”
The WaPo writer, Linda Hales, gives the impression that the creation of affordable housing is primarily an architectural issue — it’s not clear whether that’s her bias or Karrie Jacobs’. In reality, affordability is more a land use issue than an architectural one. Even so, the article is worth a quick read.
(Hat tip to Bob Burke for pointing me to the article.)
