I remember being around ten years old with a solid idea of what my life would be like in my mid to late twenties. I imagined a four bedroom house, a wife, children and a good job where I’d make plenty of money. Now at the age of twenty-six, it’s beginning to look like a distant dream.
The desperate bid for affordable and liveable housing has become somewhat of a ‘Game of Homes’. It’s getting a lot harder to rent and even more so to buy. It begs the question “why?” You’d think that housing would be a basic right considering if we were in the middle ages – all we’d need to do is build a house on a bit of land and call it home…
The housing in the UK is at an all-time low. Grown adults are moving back in with parents, people are living in shared housing, a lot of us are looking towards renting with private landlords and there are a staggering amount of people who face homelessness. We aren’t earning enough, but the cost of living is getting more and more expensive and in all honesty the fight to bridge that gap is not happening and it doesn’t look like it will close any time soon.
The USA is also facing its own housing crisis, however there is one group of people who are working towards combatting it. Let me introduce you to Kasita; a new housing design with a difference.
Kasita’s CEO Dr. Jeff Wilson used to live in a dumpster. He wasn’t homeless, but he wanted to experiment with space and how to, cheaply, maximise it. Wilson wanted to create a house that was innovative and minimal – yet highly attainable.
Kasita is a home that is intended to fit in wherever it goes. It’s minimal, yet functional design makes sure that every inch of the unit has a use. With 319 square feet of space and 10 foot high ceilings, Kasita is set to become a very popular alternative. One of the most unique features of the Kasita home is that it’s mobile. The homes will sit in what is aptly called a “Kasita Rack” which will be placed in various cities – so if you decide one day you need to move, at the click of a button and subject to availability – you can! The homes are intended for “college kids in need of student housing, to urban millennials and those enjoying retirement” with intent to house individuals who work for cities (police officers, firefighters ect).
As someone who is currently in the middle of finding their own space, this is great news! However, I am sceptical as to how this is going to work in the UK. The US is huge and therefore availability might be a lot better. The UK is small and the cities are dense, then there’s the whole family thing. It would be nice if Kasita could start to develop something that would cater for young families as a starting point – even something for life. For now, I am interested to see where this goes and the impact it could potentially have on the housing crisis.
Kasita is expected to launch and trial this autumn in Austin, Texas.
HarliHarleeHarley 