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Meanwhile, Justus is doing what many in the housing field say is impossible — building sturdy apartments for $70,000 per unit. At his new building at Southeast 151st Avenue and Burnside Street, right near a MAX stop, tenants are paying an average of $650 a month for rent. And Justus accomplished his project without public funding, though he did get a waiver on system development fees.
“We’re three times as cheap as what is being built for publicly funded affordable housing,” Justus says.
Justus founded nonprofit JOIN, one of the city’s most respected homeless agencies, before transforming himself into a developer of low-income housing. He says he could build hundreds more low-income housing units without public funding. But he’d need more cooperation from the city Bureau of Development Services. He has all sorts of ideas for inexpensive dwellings, including micro apartments with kitchenettes, that could cheaply house the growing number of Portland’s working poor.
“Do I think the city of Portland BDS is going to let us do something like this? No,” Justus says.
Nothing new on this story? It is over a year old now....
04-17-2015, 12:55 AM
i7pXFLbhE3gq
n/a posts
Seems developers have two options.
Take public money and in return, have to comply with various requirements like paying workers a decent wage.
Or, don't take public money and spend less to build.
Seems like the system is working. Don't want to play by the rules, you don't get my tax money to build a house for you. These programs do not exist solely to give free stuff to the lazy. They also exist to help those who actually do work hard, like the people building the housing you'd like to force me to pay for.
Take public money and in return, have to comply with various requirements like paying workers a decent wage.
Or, don't take public money and spend less to build.
Seems like the system is working. Don't want to play by the rules, you don't get my tax money to build a house for you. These programs do not exist solely to give free stuff to the lazy. They also exist to help those who actually do work hard, like the people building the housing you'd like to force me to pay for.
So government and "affordable" are apparently mutually exclusive. I bet that warms the cockles of the hearts of the poor.
How about if government just got out of the way and let this developer work his magic?
Because the "government" represents the owners of the nearby unaffordable housing that do not in any way want their lock on higher priced housing threatened. Welcome to the real GOP.
Meanwhile, Justus is doing what many in the housing field say is impossible — building sturdy apartments for $70,000 per unit. At his new building at Southeast 151st Avenue and Burnside Street, right near a MAX stop, tenants are paying an average of $650 a month for rent. And Justus accomplished his project without public funding, though he did get a waiver on system development fees.
“We’re three times as cheap as what is being built for publicly funded affordable housing,” Justus says.
Justus founded nonprofit JOIN, one of the city’s most respected homeless agencies, before transforming himself into a developer of low-income housing. He says he could build hundreds more low-income housing units without public funding. But he’d need more cooperation from the city Bureau of Development Services. He has all sorts of ideas for inexpensive dwellings, including micro apartments with kitchenettes, that could cheaply house the growing number of Portland’s working poor.
“Do I think the city of Portland BDS is going to let us do something like this? No,” Justus says.
these "micro apartments" a 15x15 room (225sf) to 18x18(324sf) is still TOO SMALL to have for a living(sleeping), cooking, and BATH...and you would NOT BE ALLOWED to have any other person in that apartment by any health code, or federal law, to include fire safety
we used to laugh (kidding) with a friend because his livingroom was like 10x10(remember you lose 3 feet just from a standard couch) and had a 54" tv..we would say yep a 54" big screen in a 45" living room
the smallest a bath can be is ''about'' 6x6 and that is tight ....a stove(range) in a kitchen takes up 3.3 alone then a refridge takes anouther 3x3
no intellegent person would subject themselves to the torture of such a tiny living area. unless they were FORCED (ie jail)
most families(of 4 or more) REQUIRE at least 2000sf
1. remember when realtors talk SF, the talk OUTSIDE dimensions...ie the house is 35x45x2floors right there is 3100sf
these "micro apartments" a 15x15 room (225sf) to 18x18(324sf) is still TOO SMALL to have for a living(sleeping), cooking, and BATH...and you would NOT BE ALLOWED to have any other person in that apartment by any health code, or federal law, to include fire safety
we used to laugh (kidding) with a friend because his livingroom was like 10x10(remember you lose 3 feet just from a standard couch) and had a 54" tv..we would say yep a 54" big screen in a 45" living room
the smallest a bath can be is ''about'' 6x6 and that is tight ....a stove(range) in a kitchen takes up 3.3 alone then a refridge takes anouther 3x3
no intellegent person would subject themselves to the torture of such a tiny living area. unless they were FORCED (ie jail)
most families(of 4 or more) REQUIRE at least 2000sf
1. remember when realtors talk SF, the talk OUTSIDE dimensions...ie the house is 35x45x2floors right there is 3100sf
Many families were brought up in 1200 sq ft houses.
you are correct that many families WERE brought up in those tiny houses....but TODAY if you stack up the kids... CPS will come in and say you cant (especially if they are trying to stack up girls and boys in same room)
not to mention that most of the country has to abide by the code
Quote:
For example, the ordinance establishing minimum housing standards for habitable buildings in KS (passed in April, 1951) specified that the "total area of all habitable rooms in a dwelling unit shall be such as to provide at least 65 square feet of floor area per person." In addition, all sleeping rooms must have areas of not less than 60 square feet, and at least 400 cubic feet of air space must be provided in a sleeping room for each occupant over six years of age.
A similar provision is found in the Rules and Regulations Governing the Hygiene of Housing of Baltimore, Maryland, passed in 1948. This ordinance, in addition to the above requirements as to sleeping rooms, specifies a minimum floor area of 50 square feet per adult and a minimum floor area of 30 square feet and minimum air space of 200 cubic feet for each child under the age of twelve.
The same standards are contained in the Rules and Regulations of Housing in Wilmington, Delaware, passed in July 1950, and in the Ordinance Relating to Housing Standards passed in April 1951 by the city of Norfolk, Virginia.
Two minimum housing codes which contain much more specific spatial standards for all dwellings are those in operation in Portland, Oregon, and Greensboro, North Carolina. The Portland Housing Code, Section 8-508, specifies that "for each family in a single or two-family dwelling, there shall be not less than two regular use habitable rooms, one of which shall be a living room, and also there shall be a bathroom . . ." This section was amended December 15,1949, as follows:
"(b) AREA. Minimum floor areas for rooms shall be as follows:
Sewing room, 60 square feet if in the family unit there are two bedrooms, otherwise 80 square feet.
Breakfast nooks and dinettes, no minimum floor area or width required if there are windows having a glass area at least equal to 1/10th of the floor area; for a nook or dinette not having a window or having windows with a glass area less than 1/10th of the floor area, the regulations for alcoves shall apply. . . The term 'breakfast nooks' and 'dinettes' is to be understood to mean a room adjacent or in close proximity to the kitchen.
Sleeping porches, 80 square feet unless the sleeping porch has an open wall or window area of at least 1/4th of the floor area, in which case there is no minimum size.
Sun rooms, 80 square feet, unless the sun room opens with an archway into the main living room and has a window area of at least 1/4th of the floor area, in which case there is no minimum size requirement."
The relation between these minimum standards and the standards promulgated by the Federal Housing Administration to which buildings must conform in order to be eligible for FHA loans is fairly clear.
On the basis of a detailed analysis of the space required for home activities and equipment, the Committee evolved the following space standards for families of various sizes. For the one-person family, a dwelling of 400 square feet of floor area is desirable. A two-person family requires a dwelling unit having 750 square feet of usable floor area; a three-person family requires 1,000 square feet of floor space; a four-person family, 1,150 square feet; a five-person family, 1,400 square feet; and a six-person family, 1,550 square feet. These standards make an interesting comparison between legally enforceable health requirements and the requirements based upon amenity and a new interpretation of health.
The town of Cortlandt, New York, in its recently (1951) adopted zoning ordinance, requires that "every building hereafter erected for use for dwelling purposes or converted for such use, shall have a gross floor area of not less than 500 square feet computed as being the sum of the areas enclosed by the outside faces of all exterior walls surrounding each floor used for dwelling purposes, exclusive of any area used for an attached garage."
How about if government just got out of the way and let this developer work his magic?
Now you're using that libertarian section of your brain!
Yes, indeed. How about government gets out of the way of most things economic and let's the market do what the market does. By all means.
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