| HN Mirror

The concept of housing is changing.

Many retired and near retired are selling up their houses and taking to the road permanently in caravans and finding that as long as they are careful their costs are vastly reduced and as long as they don't travel too far and burn too much fuel. This option obviously has limitations and is dependent upon health and the ability to fund the equipment required, however for many it's a way of spending a healthy retirement whilst also feeling like they are achieving something. The added bonus is that these people are spending time and money in more remote areas, providing much needed income to local businesses. Remote area councils, understanding the need are providing places for these Grey nomads to free camp at little or no cost. Facilities may be provided, but most of the travellers carry everything they need with them, just needing somewhere to park.

There is currently a movement amongst younger people towards "Van Life". Unlike their older brethren they are not normally running around in caravans, but tend towards self contained vans or small busses. They are taking up a nomadic lifestyle moving between jobs as they become available, many servicing the needs of the Grey Nomads. In a very pragmatic way, this is a way of moving "homeless living out of a car" into a lifestyle choice.

I can well imagine how a young employed person or couple, faced with oppressive housing costs could decide to live in a small van in the city, moving around each day or two and with a bit of stealth living from their vehicle.

This is what is happening now, and at the moment, it's not causing too many problems and in fact with regard to the Grey Nomads is helping to move money into remote areas.

So what does the future hold...

We're going to see more and more people, young and old being forced to hit the road, we're going to see an increase in a nomadic workforce, we're going to see the facilities (free camps) provided in remote areas become more stressed as more and more people use them, resulting in calls to shut them down. Now we have a bunch of people on the road with limited funds and no legal place to spend the night.

So what is needed?

Younger people need a roof over their heads. they need somewhere to store their goods and cook their meals. They want safety and some degree of comfort. They want flexibility of being able to move accommodation easily as and when jobs or life requires. The need access public transport and services so that they can get and keep their jobs.

They don't need 5 star accommodation.

At the moment the options for a young person are: Live with their parents, Life with their friends in a shared house, Live in a rented room with somebody else, Rent a unit, Rent a house, live out the back of their car/van as described above.

Most of these are starting to be, or are already not affordable (or even accessible) to young people unless they are very lucky or earning a high wage.

Given that the traditional 4 bedroom brick veneer on a 1/4 acre block is not even a pipe dream for most younger people what are the other options.

Seems to me that there is a lot of inner city office space that is currently massively under occupied. In most cases these spaces are designed to be easily remodelled and could be turned into suitable accommodation. You do need to be concerned about not turning these places into ghettos, but with a little thought I think you could provide accommodation that can be occupied on a short or long term with minimal difficulty. Done right, with a AirB&B type setup you could do it in such a way as to reduce the administrative costs.

Once you have that sorted, start looking at the nomads living a Van Life. You just need some space, maybe install some toilets/showers pay a resident to keep the place clean and charge a small rental for somewhere for people to park their caravan, car or van.

I'm sure this is not anywhere as simple as I make out, you have to deal with zoning laws, tenancy laws, insurance and compliance, but all you need is to get some example sites approved by council and a desire to have them succeed.

What is really needed is an understanding that they don't need to extract every $$ possible from their tenants, working with them to ensure that they feel respected and that they will respect the space they are living in.