Retrofitting the suburbs presentation Thursday (San Antonio, Anton: homes, calculated, costs)

[tildahat]

Just saw this, and will try to go:

http://www.centraltexascnu.org/sites...ones_Flyer.pdf

Very interested to hear what she has to say, thought it might be of interest to some here, based on the affordability thread.

[Komeht]

Interesting - I've read some articles on these ideas. I'd love to see examples of where this has been successfully done.

[mayfair44]

Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia - YouTube

[kiacook]

I attended this - it was pretty interesting. She definitely made the point that density is more efficient and is what retiring boomers and gen y are looking for.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by kiacook

I attended this - it was pretty interesting. She definitely made the point that density is more efficient and is what retiring boomers and gen y are looking for.

Does that leave GenX holding us back?

Oh the shame!!!

[kiacook]

No, just that Gen Xers aren't a large enough market for anyone to care about. She had a lot of great data about how we actually don't need anymore single family homes overall because the population isn't there to support it. I think she said currently over 2/3 of SFHs don't have any children and that number is one the rise.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by kiacook

No, just that Gen Xers aren't a large enough market for anyone to care about. She had a lot of great data about how we actually don't need anymore single family homes overall because the population isn't there to support it. I think she said currently over 2/3 of SFHs don't have any children and that number is one the rise.

This conforms to my thoughts and you see that in the city...but raises the question, if empty nester boomers want urbanity and millennials definitely want urbanity and GenX is too small to bother with (and in my experience not keen on suburbs either) just WHO does want suburbia? Who the hell is moving out to all the sprawl?

[sxrckr]

I keep reading about a housing shortage and there aren't enough SFHs even in the suburbs to keep up with coming demand, so yes, there are apparently enough people who want them. Maybe this is just a Texas thing since so many families are relocating here? As far as GenX, aren't we kids of Boomers, so how is that too small of a market to matter? I'm just wondering.

[verybadgnome]

I thought 2/3s was high but checking census looks like 71% of households (not just SF ones) have no children under 18 in them. In San Antonio it is 63%.

Gen X can go either way when it comes to urbanity from what I have seen and it is large enough a generation that it cannot be ignored.

[kiacook]

Her argument was that people "drive till the qualify" - in other words, homes on the perimeter are generally more affordable than they are closer in because land is cheaper there. But that paradigm is shifting because of higher gas costs and other factors. If people calculated what they spend on transportation into the cost of the home they would see that sometimes going further out isn't that much of a bargain. Also most cities zone for SFH so it makes it harder to build more affordable and efficient multifamily, mixed use buildings closer in.