Sherin Wing's recent post on Metropolis' Point of View blog asks the $5,000 question: Could architects design an inexpensive home for developed nations? The Universal World House, for example, is a $5,000 cellulose structure that's been built in Angola and Zimbabwe. Wing says that architects tend to concentrate efforts like these on developing nations while "they neglect poverty and homelessness in developed nations... Poor populations in the U.S. haven’t received as much attention because, frankly, it’s less 'sexy' to talk about urban poverty here than is in some exotic, far-flung place." Links and more news below.
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• The $5,000 Home for Developed Nations | Metropolis
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Even if they could design a $5,000 house, it wouldn't cost $5000. Most of the cost is not materials but instead its labor, land, and fees / taxes. Hookups (utility, sewer) are expensive. Foundations are expensive. Inspections are expensive. It all adds up very fast.
Tiny houses exists, and building a liveable one for $5K is difficult but doable. The problem is not the structure. Building that sort of house usually violates city ordinances and zoning laws. Besides, how much does a parking spot cost in NYC? Urban housing is not primarily an architectural problem.
There's an excess of housing stock in the U.S. market already. The only need these structures would fill would be disaster relief like post-Katrina NOLA.