Other than like O’Neill cylinders in cislunar space, or sod roofed community long houses.
Never mind that ending commodity housing destroys western civilization.
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Growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, I was a volunteer on many “quick builds”. Witnesses typically build a kingdom hall using volunteers. Of course they pay to have the concrete foundation poured or a more specialized regional volunteer crew does the on site work. The rest of the structure goes up in a 3 day weekend and is painted, carpeted, with all furniture and amenities by Sunday. I think they are a little slower now than they used to be, like a two weekend stretch due to inspections and code. There are witnesses that do all of the required licensed professions. Like my old man is a Wiremen, so I always got stuck in the attic and crawl spaces running wire.
I’m not in that world any more, but I would gladly spend a few weekends a year helping build someone a few houses in a similar style in exchange for building my own home when it is my turn. Like what if it was an open list where you could build some credible skills by showing up and trying to work in one trade, but have around 50:50 chance of getting that assignment. If you already have a licensed skill or trade, your volunteer time is worth more. Anyone is welcome to show up to builds in their region. Your volunteer time is how you move up the list. If you have property, supplies, and can afford the time, you could volunteer every weekend to expedite your own build on the regional list.
In my experience, the social connections from this kind of experience are so strong that many people will continue to volunteer and show up without any expectations whatsoever.IMO, public forestry land and resources should fall into this kind of system. Even the majority of your supplies should be derived from the same system.
Anyways, that is just my take on what is possible.
Housing co-ops come to mind as an alternative. You buy into the co-op similar to a down payment but usually much lower amount ($10 000 vs $50 000- $250 000 here) and are returned that buy in if you ever leave. Rent goes into a shared equity fund used to pay off mortgages (say for the land and buildings if new build) or for major renovations if an established co-op. Rents are far lower than market value (1/3 to 1/4 the market rate locally) so it’s affordable for everyone.
Around here everyone has to do a hour or so of volunteer work in the co-op, but it all goes to improving everyone’s living.
Housing shouldn’t be an investment, it should be a basic right for every person.
I remember reading about these once before. What countries are they popular in?
How is the deposit and the rent so low? Like someone needs to pay for the land and the build.
IIRC when you really get down to it it’s the same as any condominium but there’s a prohibition against renting to third parties, so
Sort of like the investors were eliminated without any of the tricky murdery stuff that .ml likes so much. Sounds good.
Interesting how the price drops so much when you just ban renting apartments out :P
Yeah, no one wants to live with people like this?
Here in Canada they are fairly popular, I believe a lot were built in the 70s-90s but not as much anymore. They can require government assistance to get going, but they’re incredibly effective for housing people if you can get in. I know a couple people in them and they’re paying peanuts compared to market rates.
https://www.lowestrates.ca/blog/homes/how-does-co-op-housing-work-canada
Sure, but again there’s no magical solution to the problem of buying land and building dwellings.
Basically, if you already have free land and buildings then you could start a co-op.
If you need th government to provide the free land and buildings then its comparable to other government housing projects.
There are alot of housing co-ops here in NSW, Australia.
Here’s the website of one with some good info: Goolawah Co-operative
Edit: Another good info website: https://www.ecovillages.au/
Can you buy in for 10k and pay a quarter of the rent of a comparable dwelling?
Edit: for goolawah, you have to buy a share from a member who is selling a share, at a negotiated price. So basically, you buy the land or house at market value.
From what I have read in the past, there are different models that different coops follow. Most have a limit on the number of dwellings, both from the government and coop planning, if they have hit the max number you would have to purchase from an existing member. From the coop properties I’ve looked at, they can be well below market rate but that’s because you are buying into a community and there are expectations and responsibilities not found in non-coop living. A little like American HOAs.
There are some coops that have strict requirements to join, like womens only coops or some that follow certain beliefs(environmental, political or spiritual and some can feel a bit cult-like). You can’t demand market rates when you have such heavy restrictions and demands of property owners.
The Grand Apparatus from Brandon Sanderson’s “Cosmere” springs to mind.
Light Cosmere spoiler ↓
spoiler
The Grand Apparatus is composed of a vast number of rooms all atop and around one another and constantly in motion. [ ] If a denizen needs or wants a room with a particular function such as a bedroom or bathroom, they can make a request to the Apparatus itself and the appropriate room will be brought to adjoin the one currently occupied. Because of the Apparatus’ nature, access to sunlight is infrequent and is only accessed by requesting a room with windows which is moved to the structure’s perimeter upon transferring. Personal possessions are kept in trunks which are moved along with each resident as they transfer from room to room. Because all rooms are shared, there is no concept of ownership of space.
(Source, The Coppermind)
