In the last week there has been a lot of chatter in major news outlets about a new trend towards micro units, which has probably been in response to a scheduled vote that did not happen in San Francisco.
The vote which was supposed to happen on September 25th was on proposed legislation to change the city’s building code to lower the minimum size requirements for apartments. Then again, it could have been a continuation of a conversation that started after an announcement in July by the Mayor of New York calling for people to submit designs for micro apartments that could be used as a model to increase the number of smaller units available in the big apple. Well, whatever the reason there has been an explosion of interest in small-space living in the country following a trend that has been going on in many big cities around the world.
In a conference on July 9th, Mayor Bloomberg announced the launching of adAPT NYC Competition, a pilot program to develop a new housing model for the City’s growing small-household population. The program was intended to find ways to create additional choices within New York City’s housing market to accommodate the city’s changing demographics. Currently New York City has 1.8 million one- and two-person households, but only one million studios and one-bedroom housing units. Proposals were to be submitted until September 15th for a building containing about 80 micro-units, 275 to 300 sq ft, all of which had to have kitchens and bathrooms and ideally ample access to light and air. Once built, the apartments which are not to receive city subsidies will be sold or rented on the open market. The mayor in his speech indicated that the program was intended to help curb the problem of illegally subdivided apartments and could be a pilot program that other cities would adopt.
In San Francisco there has been a big debate on a proposed change in the building code that would allow the minimum size for apartments to be as small as 220 square feet. According to reports by the New York Times, on one side are those who support the proposal like Scott Wiener, the city supervisor who introduced the legislation and who claims the apartments will help provide affordable housing. He is quoted as saying, “We have a housing affordability crisis here; rents are through the roof”. According to Realfacts, the average rent for a studio apartment in the San Francisco is $2,126, which is an increase of 22 percent in four years. Those who oppose the legislation are affordable housing advocates who see this as a move to cater to the young technology workers that have recently moved into the city after several large technology companies like Twitter and online game company Zynga, chose to locate their headquarters in the city center. They claim that this move will only serve to further drive up rents.
While small living quarters coupled with high rents have been trending for a long time in cities like Tokyo and Paris, spaces in the United States have remained relatively huge. With the rising price of rent and a recent drift towards urban areas as people look for employment, is it inevitable that micro apartment will become the norm in cities around the country?
After all, aren’t innovations born out of necessity?
Michael Hobbs, SRA, LEED GA, PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy
Twitter @Pahroo
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