After selling his software business for millions, Marcel Lebrun decided to pour his time and money into an affordable housing project in Fredericton. CBC’s Harry Forestell takes a closer look at the 12 Neighbours community and its impact on the people who live there.
The New Brunswick government site says 18m², and there are some pictures on https://www.12neighbours.com/
You know, the first thing I thought of is that you could build like 6x that many homes if you just didn’t bother with the yards and added a second story. I mean, yes, what was done is nice, but it’s basically just a trailer park. I bet that the land alone was like 70% of the cost if not 90% as well, so building the houses more densely would’ve provided for several times as many people for almost no extra cost.
Alternatively, a single mid-rise apartment building would’ve done the same thing on only a fraction of the land, and probably a lot more comfortable to live in, not to mention cheaper on amenities like heating and sewage.
On the other hand, you can throw one of these things together in a week, ensuring that people have homes sooner. You also don’t have to worry as much about soil conditions, water pressure, and all the other complications of building large structures. If the choice is between space inefficient homes or no homes at all (because the cost is prohibitively expensive), then the one that makes homes wins.
But how long will that last? Are we talking about just making a few dozen homes one a week and call it a day after we’ve given homes to 1% of those who need it, and having used up all the space within 100km of anything decent? Those homes might be tiny, but they waste space like no tomorrow. Besides, building a low rise isn’t expensive nor takes long at all, yet is far more space effecient. Especially if people don’t mind such small homes.
For the space of four of those units, you could build a single building that could easily house a dozen. Hell, just build a normal house and give everybody their own room, sharing the kitchen and bathroom. It’ll be a nicer place to live on top of housing far more people on a fraction of the land. It’s basically just a college dorm house at that point.
he could build one a week, making housing people immediate, rather than the planning and bureacracy a full story apartmwnt with a real foundation would take. Some times gap measures are best, until there is better
I agree the bureaucracy is a huge issue. NIMBY is a scourge in the western world.
But still, while he could build one a week, he could also build a 40 unit low rise in a single year, occupying the space of only one block rather than fill a good hectare of wheelless trailers that all need separate sewage and heating systems, and have a total upkeep of only a small fraction of all the independant homes that’ll probably only last for a decade or two without being rebuilt on a regular basis unlike the apartment that could last for 50+.
