Yay! Show and Tell time!
"It's Katrina Cottage 1, a 308 square-foot tribute to coastal Mississippi style designed by Marianne Cusato during the October Mississippi Renewal Forum in Biloxi. At a built-out cost somewhere south of $35,000, it was a huge hit when it debuted as a two-dimensional drawing during the forum. Now it's going national."
..."she achieved her purpose: To prove that affordable emergency housing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina didn't have to be a trailer that ends up in a landfill in 18 months. She downsized a perfectly scaled Mississippi-style coastal cottage, complete with an inviting porch. She created clever built-in storage under porch benches and beneath bunk beds. And she gave the sparse interior space a roomy feel with over sized windows."
Here's the interesting thing: Local authorities are hesitant to actually let people live in these houses during the rebuilding phase because they fear that instead of rebuilding that people will actually live in them indefinitely.
Here's the thing. And by "the thing", I mean my opinion, which you're subject to quite frequently if you read my blog: What's actually wrong with letting people live in them??
For free? Of course I don't think that should be an indefinite answer - if they need them as temporary housing while they rebuild, then they should be able to use them for free. BUT, if they want to use it indefinitely, or actually BUY one, don't you think they should be able to? Imagine that - people can actually live in a just-sufficient space instead of building yet another large house (and by large, I mean a "normal" sized house) to fill up with junk that they don't actually need. Could it be a small answer to the question of How to stop consumerism?
What do you think?
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2 comments:
All I have to say is....I want one!
I've always been shocked by the price of housing. I hate the thought of pouring hundreds of dollars a month into something you'll never own, but being able to afford a mortgage on even a modest home seems like an unreachable task for at least the next decade...
But I've always been against living in a trailer (or mobile home or whatever you call it) not because of the "white trash" stereotype, but because of the weather. I'm terrified of severe weather and trailers are not very safe. They're flimsy and poorly made and it takes frighteningly little to tear them apart.
So this whole concept thrills me! They're small, adequate and affordable...and pretty darn cute!
Only one problem: don't you have to own the land you put it on???
We had a flood back in '94'. FEMA brought in hundreds of single-wide mobile homes for "temporary housing" which they set up in several communities around the city. It was probably 5 yrs later and there was a big stink because FEMA was trying to get a few remaining people out of the "temporary" homes so that the homes could be taken to another location.
So there is some grounds for their concerns, but I don't know why some middle ground couldn't be found.
The current economy may take care of the consumerism concerns.
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