Brave New Home

August 24, 2020
Urban policy researcher Lind sketches the history of housing in America and looks at emerging trends in her detailed and optimistic debut. Noting a lack of affordable housing in many cities and persistent racial disparities in homeownership rates, Lind tracks the shift from the boarding houses and apartment buildings of the 19th and early 20th centuries to the suburban sprawl of the mid-20th century. According to Lind, Americans are now moving away from the predominant model of large single-family homes. Visits to a “commune” in a Manhattan townhouse and a 324-sq.-ft. “tiny home” in a Burlington, Vt., backyard reveal the attraction of “co-living” arrangements for young professionals and a rise in “accessory dwelling units” in cities with affordable housing shortages, respectively. Lind also profiles a real estate development company in Philadelphia that seeks to keep gentrification at bay by renting to low-income residents and providing access to medical care. A congenial and well-informed tour guide, Lind balances her hopeful outlook with a sincere acknowledgement of how deeply racial and class inequalities affect these matters. Urban planners, policymakers, affordable housing advocates, and real estate developers will want to take a look.

September 15, 2020
An urban policy specialist investigates housing choices in the U.S. and their economic, social, and environmental implications. Much has changed in the housing picture since the rise in popularity of the single-family home, writes Lind, who tackles her subject with precision, on-the-ground reporting, and theoretical rigor. Just after World War I, the "Own Your Own Home" campaign arose in the wake of "a public health movement that was biased against the density of urban life, the family-centric approach to living, the creation of street-car transit, and the incentivizing of early suburbia." However, problems with this much-institutionalized ideal became evident early on: isolation, housing costs, household upkeep, environmental inefficiency, and racism in the form of redlining, exclusionary housing regulations, and restrictive covenants. The author, executive director of the Arts + Business Council for Greater Philadelphia, argues that a more flexible approach to housing would cure many of these ills. This would counter the stigmas and classism attached to densely occupied habitations and promote the affordability, community, and simplicity of co-living, micro-apartments, and tiny houses. Although Lind occasionally slides into the hazy territory of "paradigm shifts" and a "brave new world," she mostly works from steady ground. She proceeds from a history of housing modes in the U.S.--inns, boardinghouses, tenements, and apartments--to discussions of the streetcar suburbs and the more expansive sprawl that requires car travel. Not every reader will be enthusiastic about the concept of communal-style co-living arrangements (a tiny house may be more amenable), but the author delivers consistently solid arguments in favor of extended-family housing and other options outside the single-family paradigm. Humans, after all, are social beings and seek the comfort of a dependable community. "In co-living arrangements," writes Lind, "there's an open invitation to connect with people in common spaces." A vibrant case for a host of viable alternatives to the single-family home.

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