Page 48 - Green Builder May-June 2018 Issue

Plan B…and C and D. ADUs give
homeowners financial flexibility,
including the option of downsizing
and renting out their larger home. CREDIT: KASITA

REALITY CHECK
So what are those changing socio-economic and realities? Let’s take
a good, hard look at where we are in 2018.
The economy is strong…right? It’s true, if we accept what
commonly accepted indicators such as GDP tell us. Housing
starts are up, for example. But that’s only part of the story. Starter
homes are scarce, and the median price of these is up nearly 10 CREDIT: OCUSFOCUS/ISTOCKPHOTO CREDIT: FSTOP123/ISTOCKPHOTO
percent since the beginning of 2017. Meanwhile, the gap between
the very rich and the rest of us keeps widening. There’s even
evidence that climate change is making these divisions more
pronounced. After all, when disaster strikes, a wealthy family Family plans. Today, the nuclear family idealized by countless advertisers
can afford to move. A poor family is stuck with what they’ve got. is just one of many family arrangements.
Some Americans are choosing to “live small” because they are
motivated to reduce their environmental footprint and simplify their The New American Family
lives—and they don’t want to fall into the trap of a mortgage they The structure of families is changing. The nuclear family isn’t exactly
can’t qualify for or afford (see “The millennials are coming,” page dead, but it’s not the norm anymore, either. Consider these statistics,
49). But the rise of the ADU and tiny home revolution don’t just courtesy of the Pew Research Center:
signal a backlash against the McMansion; these trends also reflect ■ ■ An increasing share of Americans—20 percent—are living in
the economic reality of the many Americans who can’t afford a larger multi-generational households
home or who are investing in small homes as income-producing ■ ■ One-third of children live in single-parent households
property or a much needed Plan B. ■ ■ Single-person households make up 28 percent of U.S. households

46 GREEN BUILDER May/June 2018 www.greenbuildermedia.com

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