Dear Everyone;
Yesterdays SF Examiner had an op-ed on the housing crisis in San Francisco. It basically reiterated the problems of Tenants in Common and condo conversions and Ellis Act evictions and the Supervisors mandating affordable housing below market set asides to get housing building projects approved.
I had recently read how a group of architects and home designers had created plans for simple to construct Katrina Cottages. These are small compact bungalow to 2 story cottages and designed to withstand a Katrina style hurricane.
So I wrote why not approve the same for SF since space is limited and based on footprints up to 7 bungalows could be bult on a standard lot or 4 two story or one story cottages. Using standardized parts and assembly line construction "affordable" cottages could be built from around $75,000 - $100,00 by sharing a housing lot. The mortgages using private industry long term financing could be had for at least a third of what current rental rates are in SF.
After the '06 Earthquake simple cottages were built for housing so I asked why not today? The result is private property ownership.
The SF Examiner agreed and published with affiliation.
Ron Getty
SF Libertarian
For more on what the Katrina Cottages look like go here:
http://www.cusatocottages.com/index_content.html
Lowes building supply has also got into it as well with it's Katrina Cottage pre-packaged plans:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=2006_landing/Katrina_Cottage/KatrinaCottage.html
Letters: March 9, 2007
http://www.examiner.com/a-608999~Letters__March_9__2007.html
http://tinyurl.com/2o596a
Housing policy
Mike Sullivan missed a way to create affordable housing in San Francisco [Time to rethink The Citys housing policy, March 3].
Hurricane Katrina wrecked housing and new simple housing is needed. A group of architects and home designers created easily constructed cottages designed to withstand a Hurricane Katrina. The results are designs from a bungalow to a two-story two-bedroom.
With small footprints of 300 square feet to 1,200 square feet, this means on the average San Francisco lot anywhere from seven bungalow types to 4-2 bedroom style could be built. With labor, land and material cottages could go from $75,000 to $100,000. The designs are expandable so as a family grows additions can be added. With long-term mortgages you could own an affordable home with mortgage payments a third of the average San Francisco rent.
Cottages worked for 06 earthquake survivors why not today?
Ron Getty
Chair, Initiatives Committee
Libertarian Party of San Francisco