The Great Compression - Thanks to soaring housing prices, the era of the 400-square-foot subdivision house is upon us

$150,000? No thanks.

Build communal housing. Apartments owned by residents. These tiny house suburbs are a horrible waste of space and resources.

The price is ridiculous for what they get. And it's in Texas of all places.

You could find a nice older house in the midwest with land for under 100k.
So you want urban sprawl then
- Apartment buildings combat urban sprawl

At that point you may as well just have an apartment complex with a park. Single family homes for the sake of it at the very edge of praticality. This is the last dieing breath of a failing model of housing

R O W H O U S I N G.

Gardening, owning a workshop, are two hobbies which are pretty much impossible in apartment complexes (as are many other things which are deal-breakers to anyone with enough income to have an opinion on the matter). However to think it's either "apartment complex" or "detached house with five parking spots and a grass monoculture" is a false dichotomy. A terraced house with 3 stories and a basement used to be the standard for the working class where I live, and it is a huge shame they went out of fashion.

Row housing sits halfway between apartment buildings and detached houses, density-wise. Maybe much closer to apartments if you're comparing against low-rises with ample green space.

This is obviously the niche that the trend in the article tries to fill, while failing hard due to zoning laws forbidding terraced housing despite the fact that the exact same lots would immediately double the livable space at almost zero cost (besides a few grand in fireproof and soundproof materials I guess).
- Row housing is still insufficient. We need more density.
Exactly. Trying to behave like it’s still 1975.

Why are they still detached? So much wasted space here.
Nad might aswell build up, 3 stories, shops at the bottom and apartments up top.
Oh wait, thats illegal in most areas of the US.. good ol Freedumb

They are doing this in the US currently. The problem here is that corp America has fucked us all so hard that when buying a house you're not just competing with people more well off than you but companies with bottomless pockets.

so you either live far from where you work or have to live up your neighbors ass in one of these type of buildings whose units aren't any more affordable. Not everyone wants that despite your insistence that AmErIcAn FrEeDuMb is to blame.
This was my thought. They are just making tiny houses. Why not put up a building instead, which is more efficient anyway?

I would have loved one of these as a young single guy. Far better than a similarly sized studio apartment that doesn't gain me any equity. The real estate market has been pushing people to buy more than they need (and more than they can afford) for years. I assume these are on concrete slabs, but if they had a full basement it would be plenty of space.

People are framing this like its a dystopian nightmare. The fact is that you SHOULD be able to buy a small 2 bedroom something when you're young. It doesnt need to be huge or glamorous.
- I agree completely, but you cannot fit a two bedroom house into 400 ft².
- Seriously. Housing supply is not the issue despite what the media wants to scream at you. The issue is the vast majority of new developments are massive McMansions that the average person has absolutely no hope of ever affording. The concept of a starter home is basically dead.
  
  I recently finally got it through my family's skull that, no, I can't just go build a garage and slowly build onto it as I can afford like my great-grandparents dide. That starter homes are essentially nonexistent, and that a fairly large portion of those that do are being bought up and demolished to be turned into McMansions.
  
  This is a good thing, even if the causes are not.
- Our parents could get a whole ass house so an apartment is a small ask
- Ths dystopian part is the cost. When I first opened article I was like ok if these are under 50k maybe it makes sense
  
  He paid $145,000
  
  145k in the paradise known as San Antonio Texas....
  
  Unless family is keeping him there I don't understand. Even if family was the reason I'd still expand my search to an hour or 3 away before I bought that.
  
  Just 90 minutes out gets you a nicely built brick house in Beeville with a 2 car attached garage on a corner lot with a fenced in yard so your dog can run around.
  
  For the same price you can get way nicer properties in better states. If you're not willing to move you're making life harder than it needs to be.
I don't think they do but with a basement I could maybe manage but it would be a tight squeeze for a couple.
- We have done 399 and it was just fine. Even had a portable washer that we pulled out of the closet every Sunday. People tend to overestimate how much space they really need, probably because their furniture is gigantic.

I kinda echo the comments, just build apartments with really good soundproofing. Give everyone their own little yard and have a nice community garden. Add a restaurant or real bakery to the ground floor. Have a grocery store a block away.

That's kind of how things are here in most of European cities, and yeah, it's nice
Who needs a yard? Build parks all over the place.
- What if I want to garden?

Small housing is good. Race-to-the-bottom housing, not so much.

I'm OK with smaller houses. They're easier to take care of, cheaper to maintain, and use less utilities.

I'm not sure I could live somewhere smaller than my current apartment.
Smaller, absolutely, but are you able to visualize what 400 ft² looks like? Because I've lived in an apartment that was a little under 500 ft² and it was not enough for two people to live in anything like comfort.
- I lived in a 400-something square foot apartment with my girlfriend for a few years, and we were comfortable. We of course wanted more space, but we were comfortable.
- I have lived in 399 and we were perfectly happy. You don’t need all the stuff you have.

Tiny Homes and Micro Apartments can be very comfortable if they are built correctly. A 400s2 box built without thought will NOT be comfortable.
There are so many people all over the world doing this and finding solutions.
If you like this stuff check out this channel, it's not my channel, but she really covers some innovative people.
https://www.youtube.com/user/kirstendirksen/videos

Not only that but I highly doubt these homes are built to last. They put them up as fast as they can and trim every corner to make an extra buck.

You could buy a well built century old brick house for what they're charging. Some people have an affinity for shiny new stuff, no matter how shoddy it turns out to be.

I lived in a 500 sq ft house very comfortably for a few years. It was built in 1920.

I lived in a 500 sq ft apartment for a couple of years and it was comfortable for my rabbit and me. Unless I wanted a guest over.

I want a community based living. Where everyday a few people take on community based chores like cooking for the community. Cleaning up. Etc etc.

Everyone knows everyone's name

Parenting is done community.

Only a few select people actually 'go to work' to earn money. Everyone else just helps out in the community.

Instead of having 100 individual dinners. It's all done in one place. Thus saving fuel and time.

Etc etc.

I'll never live to see anything like that unless I go join some nomads.

Sounds like my version of hell. I want to be left alone to do the things I like, my way.

If I had to eat Franks idea of spaghetti every second week, or deal with old Beatrice telling me I missed a spot on the window ledge where a mote of dust had landed, I’d kill myself right there on the spot.

I’m fine with community, but I don’t want it forced into my personal space.
- Yeah same
- Pretty much sums up my opinion of the arrangement.
You want to live in a commune. Those exist.
Sounds similar to a commune; they exist. Typically everyone works in the commune. The living conditions don't look "great," but I've lived in worse conditions. I think the two biggest ones in the U.S. are Twin Oaks and and East Winds. There are many other types of intentional communities, and there are many around the world: https://icmatch.org/community-types-2/ https://www.ic.org/directory/common-place-land-cooperative/
There were some in New York (Housing Cooperatives) that were built slightly before the great depression so went under pretty quick. They also involved owning your unit after a certain number of years. Wish they’d have had a fighting chance, I truly think people need community to live well and condensing work like childcare, food prep, and laundry (tasks that scale really easily*) make life easier for everyone.
We should build that. Make it not based on biological family so you aren't stuck with whatever assholes you're related to and let people leave at will and join at any time with a two thirds vote of existing members
I think there are a few communities like this still in Belarus (not joking btw, i remember hearing of one built around a tractor company from the Soviet days)
- It’s a commune, they exist in the US but are usually restricted entry.
I’ve had a vision for a while of a community of tiny homes that are basically for sleeping and studying/entertaining oneself. There would be a shared cooking/dining area, and a shared shower area similar to Japanese public baths (shower and wash yourself in a stall, soak in a hot tub once you’re clean.)
- We need to build these visions
- dorms.

As part of a multi-generational family of 4 adults and a tween I couldn't imagine living in less than 2000 sq. ft. But for a couple I think this would be ok.

We found Mrs. Bucket over here
- That’s “bouquet“!!!