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How to make housing affordable

I often mention the expense of our homes. Whether it's renting or a buying, it's a major cost in our lives.

Here in Australia it's widely accepted that prices are too high. Compared to four decades ago, we earn ten times more - but house prices are 30 times more expensive. So what do we do about it?

This Australian documentary looks internationally to see what solutions other countries are coming up with.


Solutions involve town planning and financial arrangements, and a lot of ideas involved living in a smaller space.

While a lot of solutions take a long time to implement, one of the quickest is a change we can make ourselves. More about that at the end.

First here are some of the ideas from the documentary:

Just keep building

In Tokyo each year there are more new homes built than in all of England. Commercial areas have been more flexibly re-zoned to allow enough new homes to match the need. As a result, prices don't increase alarmingly as they do elsewhere. More stable prices also mean that young people aren't pressured into buying in a hurry.

Being a shareholder

Denmark also has a concept called "Andelsbolig". For a low price people can be a building shareholder, giving them the right to rent a unit. Only building owners can live there and the price is capped to inflation. These two rules deter speculative investors and keep prices affordable for the residents.

A Co-op City

'Co-op City' is in New York's Bronx and was designed decades ago to stop middle class people being priced out of New York City. The development has more than 15,000 apartments, up to 50,000 people and a 5-year waiting list to get in.

In this government-backed development residents pay $30,000 to buy and then pay $1400 per month to live there. It sounds a bit like a mortgage except it costs about half of what it costs to live elsewhere, and there is no profit to be made. You sell it for what you bought it for.

Again, this makes it ideal for residents rather than investors.

Buy half a home

In London, shared ownership allows a person to buy, for example, 60% of the home and rent the remaining 40% from the housing association. As house prices increase, their 60% becomes more valuable and they can borrow more to buy the remaining stake in the home.

It allows first-home buyers to benefit from rising housing prices rather than getting priced out by them.

Living in a boat

Also in London, the number of people living in canal boats has doubled in the last five years. It's more a symptom of the problem than a solution but some people are finding that the cost of a very small boat much more affordable than a traditional home.

20% less for 20% less

'Pocket homes' are being made by one developer. These are quite literally what they sound like. They're smaller than a normal apartment but are also more affordable. It's not as profitable for the developer, which is probably why it isn't done more often.

Shipping containers

In Copenhagen, excess shipping containers are being converted into tiny apartments and put on land not yet zoned for development. It's temporary but ideal for students who struggle with housing costs.

Kim Loudrrup has started building floating pontoons with 12 shipping container units on each one.


They are moored in the city and each one has a "sea view" and costs only $600 per month.

Live above a car space

These two-storey 'zedpods' sit neatly over a car park. It's a great way to use the space taken up by car parks, which is unused most of the time.


The easiest change to make

Changing the housing of city can be hard. It can be far easier to change our mindset. Esben from Denmark has been exploring how cities can work in a sustainable and affordable way. "Is it not just about how much it costs but also how we live?"

He says that if we have lots of options outside our home, it is easier to live in a smaller space. We don't need lots of rooms, or a garden or a pool if we can access things things and meet our needs in a shared space.

For example, I live in an apartment with no yard or garden. But just around the corner is an enormous park with trees, a pond, a playground, barbeque areas, picnic tables and an outdoor gym.

How to save $8000 a year on housing

The documentary also mentioned that even where this is working, it takes a lot of time for all these things to happen. Definitely the quickest way to have affordable housing is to decrease the size of the house we need. I did the maths, and it's amazing how much of a difference this can make.

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