In 2022, people at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) had an epiphany. Their signature annual publication, The State of the Nation’s Housing, was issuing a consistent message: there was a need for housing, but it wasn’t available.
For 10 years, The State of the Nation’s Housing had been gaving evidence that people with low and very low incomes were unable to access housing that was affordable, safe and secure. The epiphany came when the JCHS realized that the gap extended further than dollars and cents: there was also a gap in housing design.
JCHS immediately embarked on a project to document innovation in housing design. JCHS reached out to its network of graduates with three questions:
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- how does innovative housing design fare in the field?
- what are the opportunities and barriers to innovative design?
- what recent examples of innovative housing design stand out for you?
The responses from the field were analysed by a multi-disciplinary team and transformed into a report. The report is available on line at the Joint Center For Housing Studies: The State of Housing Design 2023
The State of Housing Design 2023 pays attention to innovations that responded to the needs of people with low and very low incomes. Jolene’s First Cousin, which is located in Portland Oregon, is among the innovations that are featured. The project includes housing for people leaving homelessness, a commercial space and two rental apartments. Jolene’s First Cousin raised a substantial amount of its capital through crowdsourcing: 14%. You can read more at Guerilla Developments: Jolene’s First Cousin — Renewable Energy Meets Affordable Housing
Interest in housing design is not limited to the JCHS, of course. Older adults are well placed to understand some of the challenges: houses that worked fine for raising a family aren’t always a good fit in older life. As well, many older adults are familiar with financial hardship.
AARP1 is an organization that speaks for older adults in the United States. AARP partnered with the National Building Museum to hold an exhibition about innovative housing design called Making Room – Housing For A Changing America (Making Room). The exhibition opened in 2017 and ran until January 2019. A report with the same title is posted at AARP: Making Room – Housing for a changing America
Making Room reports on design innovations that have stood the test of time. Las Abuelitas, which opened in 2013 in Tucson, Arizona is one example. The idea for Las Abuelitas came from a group of older adults who were parenting grandchildren. Las Abuelitas consists of 12 units of housing and a community centre. Rents are based on the resident’s income. The community centre’s programming is open to the residents in the neighbourhood as well as Las Abuelita’s residents. You can read more about Las Abuelitas at the Center For Architecture: Las Abuelitas Kinship Housing
These reports and examples are obviously intended for a U.S. audience, but the mismatch between housing design and housing need is not exclusive to the United States. Good ideas should be available for harvesting, regardless of where they originate.
