It's time to rethink the single-family home as the American dream, author says [View all]

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Housing today looks largely the same as it did in 1950, Diana Lind observes in her new book “Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing.” Many builders are still constructing 2,500-square-foot homes with two-car garages on tree-lined streets.

But a lot has changed since the single-family house was, as Lind writes, “a practical response to the desire for more space and access to nature.” Today, average family size is smaller — just 3.14 people, and nearly a third of Americans live alone, her research found. Divorce hovers between 40% and 50%, and life expectancy has risen to 79.

“As so much of American life has changed, why hasn’t housing?” Lind asks.

An urban policy specialist, Lind traces the history of the single-family ideal from Herbert Hoover’s “Own Your Own Home” program in 1918 through the aftermath of the housing collapse of 2008. She considers housing alternatives and policies that support them.

We invited Lind to talk about her conclusion that a dream primarily oriented toward owning a single-family home “is unaffordable, unhealthy, and out of step with consumer demand.”

-more-

https://www.heraldnet.com/life/its-time-to-rethink-the-single-family-home-as-the-american-dream-author-says/