Can Building Half a House Solve the Affordable Housing Crisis?
Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena has spent years trying to tackle the need for affordable housing in his home country and around the world.
Aravena’s solution is a half-built house that gives a homeowner the basics for living but they add value by finishing off the other half themselves over time. He has designed the so-called “incremental housing” as a low-cost way to create affordable housing in urban areas.
His work has earned him architectural accolades, the latest coming this week during the Urban Land Institute’s fall meeting in Washington, D.C., where he was awarded the J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Three years ago, he won the Pritzker Prize, perhaps the architectural profession’s highest honor.
Such recognition raises the question of whether his approach can be translated into helping address the need for more affordable housing in the U.S. Big companies grapple with the issue when trying to attract employees, while cities need the housing so police officers, firefighter, teachers and other government workers can live closer to their jobs.
Land and construction costs, building codes, zoning and other government regulations present hurdles for both ownership options and rental. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reported earlier this year that there’s a shortage of more than 7.2 million of affordable and available rental homes.
Meanwhile, rising home prices have kept potential buyers in apartments. Home ownership peaked at 69.2% in 2004 but now is at 64.2%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Aravena said it takes a coordinated effort among communities and governments working toward common ground to tackle the issue. “Business as usual is not the solution,” he said.
In Chile, Aravena said building half a house costs $10,000 per house, which is paid for through a combination of an owner’s savings and a government grant.
That kind of price tag would be difficult to achieve in the U.S., but building half a house is still a possibility.
The biggest challenge with that, however, could be where to locate such housing.
Matt Kelly, CEO of real estate developer Chevy Chase, Maryland-based JBG Smith, said during a panel at the Urban Land Institute meeting that the “not in my backyard” mentality creates major challenges in creating affordable housing in urban areas. It’s difficult to attract employees when existing residents resist the kind of projects that would drive costs down, he said.
JBG Smith is building Amazon’s second headquarters in what’s been dubbed National Landing, an area that encompasses part of Northern Virginia’s Crystal City and Pentagon City area.
To create and preserve affordable housing, JBG Smith worked with the Federal City Council, a group of business and civic leaders, to start the Washington Housing Initiative.
“We have a golden opportunity” to ensure there are affordable residential options by acquiring housing that is in the path of growth, Kelly said.
Holly Sullivan, director of worldwide economic development for Amazon, on the same panel with Kelly, put on her planning director hat from her days in Wilson County, Tennessee, when she said that local governments have the power of determining land use.
“That’s a very powerful tool” in planning growth, Sullivan said.
