[extortionist]

The article has something of an issue in that its ever-escalating apartment prices are never bound to any material costs--i.e., it doesn't directly acknowledge that some significant amount of that $900 initial and $1400 ultimate cost exist only because they're what the market will bear. More, it seems assume the premise that the only solution to increasing costs is to decrease size.

But do micro-apartments not just exacerbate the actual problem--that decent, reasonably sized homes for people in good locations are too rare or too expensive?

I can understand how these micro-homes might appeal to people in certain circumstances (I spent a while myself splitting a tiny studio in Seattle with a few other people--and that same apartment costs ~3x now what it did when I lived there 5 years ago), but I can't see how the problems these are trying to solve wouldn't be much better solved by building new desirable areas, increasing the supply of good housing, and driving the costs of all housing down.

[icebraining]

But do micro-apartments not just exacerbate the actual problem--that decent, reasonably sized homes for people in good locations are too rare or too expensive?

If there are both families and individuals bidding for those reasonably sized homes, giving the latter a cheaper alternative should reduce for the larger houses, no?

[extortionist]

It's not at all clear that only individuals would go for the cheaper alternative.

We also already have cheaper alternatives in e.g. studio apartments, and we currently have families living in those.

I don't see how building downwards will solve these problems in a decent way going forward--it seems that it could only continually reduce peoples' living conditions.

[zacharycohn]

There is a high end product. I don't need a high end product, but that's all there is. So I have to go for it.

Suddenly, there's a cheaper, lower end product that meets my needs. I go for that, someone who needs or wants the higher end product can go for that.

[1_2__3]

The point is that for many decades the low end product was something like a one bedroom with a kitchen. Now that's being seen as a luxury that we need to build under.

[OrwellianChild]

If families are already living in too-small housing arrangements like studio apartments, wouldn't this be because they could not afford larger accommodations? This is actually a sign that more housing needs to be build at the high and the low end.

The article is not saying "build micro-apartments instead of normal ones". It is saying "make it possible to build micro-apartments alongside normal ones".

[zacharycohn]

No. I want to live in a micro apartment. I do not want to live in a house. GP might have a family of four. Ideally, we would not be competing for the same housing stock. Today, their decisions to ban micro housing force us to compete for the only housing available.

[kd0amg]

No. I want to live in a micro apartment. I do not want to live in a house.

How much more would you be willing to pay for a micro apartment than for a house?