New solutions for affordable housing in a climate risk environment
New solutions for affordable housing in a climate risk environment,
Affordable housing is an increasingly serious global issue,
whether it is rent or home ownership, the unaffordability of homes is on the rise.
If we look at the US Census data, we will see a sharp decline in home ownership in recent decades.
Although millennials were the most populous generation by 2019, they only contributed to home ownership at a rate of 47.9%.
In contrast, Gen-X home ownership was 69%, after the Silent Generation at 77.8%.
Trends in declining intergenerational home ownership are mirrored in other parts of the world,
such as the United Kingdom where rates have steadily fallen from 71% in 2003 to 64% by 2018.
Many experts also point to affordability as a big reason for the decline.
Tenants did not do better in the affordable housing climate either,
with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) referring to affordable housing
as homes that a family has access to at 30% or less of their income.
According to this standard, full-time minimum wage workers cannot purchase a two-bedroom apartment in any major US city.
Factors of the affordable housing crisis
Firstly:
The increasing cost of labor and materials makes it difficult for developers to invest in and build affordable housing.
Secondly:
Market forces, such as low interest rates, can have the unintended effect of increasing demand within an area of short supply.
Particularly in more desirable urban locations, where average home prices are out of reach for lower wage earners.
Finally:
It is important to recognize how policies at the regional, federal and local levels can affect housing
patterns,
And it may have implications for affordability.
For example, zoning regulations can affect allowance requirements with minimal setbacks and density control regulations,
which can dictate the space required to build more housing.
Impact of climate change and climate migration
Climate change is exacerbating the problem of affordable housing,
there has been no shortage of recent climate disasters highlighting the rising risks:
the Australian bushfires, the record-breaking heatwave in Greece,
the path of devastation left by Hurricane Ida in the United States,
the worst floods Recorded in Germany, all climate disasters have occurred in the past two years.
The impact of climate change on affordable housing is twofold,
housing loss due to damage caused by climate disasters, and migration of people from disaster areas.
This has resulted in increased housing costs in climate-risk regions due to higher insurance premiums,
as well as increased demand for housing in more temperate regions, thus increasing costs.
Research suggests that by 2050, sea level rise caused by carbon emissions could put 300 million homes worldwide at risk,
nearly three times what was projected in previous data models.
This underscores the need for affordable climate-positive housing because adverse weather conditions not only have the potential to displace hundreds of millions of people,
but also impose additional economic and resource constraints in areas less vulnerable to climate-related disasters.
Cities, planning committees, architects, engineers and designers need to work together to reimagine a solution that meets the need for affordable housing in a climate-risk environment.
Positive carbon housing
One innovative way to meet this challenge is to build homes that contribute to zero carbon emissions,
or even better, that help generate energy beyond their own needs.
Carbon positive housing refers to homes that generate excess energy,
beyond their own energy requirements (used for heating, insulation, daily electricity consumption, etc.).
Minimizing a building’s energy use through efficient building design is also the first step toward carbon-positive housing.
A building’s energy efficiency can be improved by using appropriate (low-energy) materials and reducing operating and maintenance costs.
Incorporating passive design techniques, better insulation materials for heating or cooling (depending on the context),
and integrating closed-loop systems can also make a building energy efficient and ultimately reduce building loads.
Renewable energy systems can then be introduced to meet residual energy needs,
and common on-site renewable energy methods can include photovoltaics (PV), solar water heating, or wind turbines.
