Alternative housing

One of the first popular uses of alternative housing in modern times was during WWI and the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, many people ended up losing their homes. More than 15 million people[1] were out of work at the time, and desperate for housing. Due to the vast influx of homeless people, the creation of Hoovervilles took place. Alternative housing at the time was used as a way of living to save money, and to do that, people built shanty homes. As time went on, people began to take ideas learned from shantytowns and put them to use in other forms of alternative housing.

In contemporary society, alternative housing is moving from last resort housing to an option that people choose in the face of a housing market that is getting more and more costly . With the rise of social media, more and more people were exposed to the idea of alternative housing, and its popularity grew. Paired with an increase in spendable income, the choice to live differently grew stronger.

Social Media can be attributed to playing a major role in the rise in popularity of alternative housing. Sharing pictures, videos, and information about alternative housing spreads knowledge about the concept. During the early days of Instagram, a young couple[2] became a lifestyle brand with millions of followers all because of their living situation; living in a van. The artistry and mindset of van living drew in Instagram followers, and led to a movement of people following suit under the hashtag #vanlife.

Facebook is another example of social media influence. A survey[3] conducted in Australia has found that there is an increasing trend in people wanting to own a tiny home, specifically in older women. The trend is argued to stem from growing Facebook pages, as one has more than 50,000 followers. Facebook groups allow people interested in alternative housing to connect with each other to make the process easier.

One of the most successful residential reuse projects is Gasometer City, in Vienna Austria. Four immense disused gasometers were successfully revamped in the late ‘90s and have since become infamous in the world of adaptive reuse.[4]

Alternative housing (purposely built homes outside of destitution) around the world, while on the rise,[5] has not yet reached the heights of popularity as it has in North America. Most of the alternative homes across the world tend to be adaptive/reuse homes. These types of homes/building tend to be derelict or unused buildings (hotels, factories or hospitals) that are converted into low-income housing, green sustainability communities, schools or hotels.[6]

The Australian Government's Department of Environment and Heritage published a report[7] that found that reusing a building's material for a new purpose has a 95% savings of "embodied energy"[8] that would be otherwise wasted. This "embodied energy" is by the Australian government as "the energy consumed by all of the processes associated with the production of a building, from the mining and processing of natural resources to manufacturing, transport, and product delivery.”

While the savings (monetary, materials and construction hours) can be had with reusing a building and adapting it to modern standards and local building codes, there is more to adapting a building for modern reuse than just focusing on saving money.

Some of the drivers that push for the reuse of old buildings include the following; Increased building life, reduced resource consumption, less material waste and financial incentive. Aside from the monetary cost or savings that can be had by reusing a building, other factors can also play a vital role in the candidacy of a building for adaptive reuse. They include the following; social value, potential for reuse, historical importance, and environmental conditions.[9]

Micro homes in Japan

Small homes

Japan's major cities face another crisis all together, a dense population with skyrocketing property prices.[12] The rise in prices over the last few years has meant that many people are now looking for small plots of land to build on. Some of these micro homes are as small as 182 square feet and many engineers and architects are now looking to smaller homes that look to maximize the limited space.[13] With Tokyo being one of the most dense cities in Japan, many are looking towards these micro homes in order to live next to where they work.[14]

While alternative living can be quite expensive, other options for low budget alternative housing are pallet homes, camping as a lifestyle, or even living in a community such as a Habitat for Humanity community such as Twin Creeks Village[15] located in Everett, WA. or the tiny home villages of Detroit, MI. Many Americans struggle each year to make ends meet which is resulting in the growth of these low budget housing options, with high hopes of building their lives back up. For instance, Detroit has a program designed for just this; Cass Community Social Services[16] constructs tiny homes for families rebuilding their lives and credit. These alternative communities forge the way for families or single persons to make small monthly payments and utilities so they can own the tiny home and gain back credit.

Pallet houses: Pallet houses, made from wooden shipping pallets, is an inexpensive way of living. Pallets are convenient to find, and building them into houses is not difficult. In most cases, pallet houses are built for people recovering from natural disasters. Pallet Houses became extremely popular when refugees were returning to Kosovo after the war.

Shipping Container: Shipping Containers are an alternative style of living for people looking to be a little more eco-friendly. They are really durable for weather, but on the downside they can be a little pricey, depending on how "homey" you are willing to make it.

Tiny House Movement: Tiny houses might be the most popular alternative housing. When the reason is financial, it seems to the most common route. Tiny houses average 100–400 square feet and are usually mobile. The scheme for Tiny Houses is to live small and save big. Considering the reduced costs and the need to survive off of a fixed income, Tiny houses are a viable option for some people.

Outbuilding: Considered as a garage, shed, or a barn, many people choose them for living, almost like a cabin. They are only about $10,000, and can serve as a nice livable place to call home.

Recreational Vehicle: In many cases, people choose to make an RV their permanent mobile living space. While living out of an RV isn't for everyone, it is a cost-effective way to travel the country while never leaving home.

Earth House (Earth Berm): Underground earth sheltered homes, are private, can handle extreme weather temperatures, and require less to insure because of the added protection it gives from weather, and against high winds. However Earth Berms can be on the pricey side about 20% more than a regular home, and moisture precautions have to be accounted for during the building process as well. Also applying for a home loan, and the mortgage process becomes more difficult, with more hoops to jump through.

Yurt: A small, Lightweight, but maximizing way to live, with minimal materials. Nomads from central Asia have used yurts to live for centuries. They have natural strength when built, because of their pyramid design, and are aerodynamic, because of curved walls, which makes the wind flow around it instead of push through.

• Twin Creeks Habitat for Humanity Snohomish County, habitatsnohomish.org Retrieved 2018-05-10