New Concept Affordable Sustainable Housing

With the economy in turmoil and rapidly rising inflation, many are having difficulty making ends meet, especially in housing. The current volatile capitalistic economy has corrupted affordable housing to the extent that it has become a political issue. Federal, Provincial, and Municipal governments have strategies to develop more affordable housing in the next decade. However, as great as these proposed concepts are to provide more affordable housing, they are only but a band-aid solution that will reduce the problem temporarily.

What is needed is more community-based housing where the local neighbourhood becomes an extended family. Higher-density cooperative residential areas where homeowners have less maintenance and upkeep with the communal duties shared by the homeowners. Resources are also shared so everyone does not have the need to purchase as much.  Homes For Heroes Foundation built such a local community right here in Calgary. The Veterans Village is a tiny house community where the residences have the main necessities for living with communal gathering and activity areas.    

Many ideas are appearing to help this global pandemic of housing. Jeffrey Liu and Hayley Chan have a concept for a new typology of community-based affordable housing. They combined the efficient Dingbat typology with that of the bungalow court, resulting in a community-focused and affordable housing model for an attractive way of densifying cities. According to leading architects, in the future single purpose places are no longer relevant becoming much more multi-purpose and shared spaces for a better and healthier way to live by becoming smarter about design and more thoughtful about the efficient use of space.

In Toronto, there is an affordable housing project geared towards the hospitality industry that goes beyond simply providing an economical place to live. Reclaimed materials and energy-saving strategies were used to keep costs low and provide easy maintenance. There is a resident-owned and operated restaurant and training kitchen on the ground floor. On the 6^th floor an atrium where vegetables, fruit, and herbs are grown to help residents hone their professional skills and supply the restaurant with fresh food.

The Federal government provided $16.6 million towards converting an empty downtown office building into 82 permanent affordable housing units in Calgary. It will have transitional and permanent supportive housing with a multi-family hub with shelter, support services, and child care. The province provided $2 million through an agreement under the National Housing Strategy and as part of The City of Calgary's promise to convert extra downtown office spaces to housing committed $5.5 million towards the project.

Not only do we have to redesign how we live, but also the way our buildings are built. Society needs to also Weather the New Norm by building structures to withstand the ever-increasing disasters brought about by climate change. There is a need to build eco-friendly homes with more local, durable, renewable, and eco-friendly materials to help minimize and survive the disasters caused by the changing climate.

Make the M.A.D. Move towards demanding a change to the way society lives. Demand that more is done towards building more affordable and sustainable housing where we all can live enjoying life instead of working hard to just provide a roof over our heads.