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.
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+.
I agree it is not perfect but planning for that 40 unit build might take 5 years before breaking ground with the way cities work. If he is that rich maybe he could fund both , with the tiny homes as a gap measure. That lady that lost her husband and could no longer afford her previous living space did need immediate affordable housing.
The issue with your suggestion is that you’re presuming that this guy can keep building more buildings, but he sold his company to be able to do this. It’s a one-time deal, unless if he manages to start another company, raise it to a great value, then sell it off again. Even then, that’s a decade venture at least. Planning as well doesn’t take that long, it’s the approval process that does. Planning can be over with in less than a month, and that’s presuming he doesn’t go for an existing plan.
There are always people on the verge of destitution, so either save a handful today, or save several times that many a year or two later. Low and mid-rise apartments are not only massively space efficient, but cost only a fraction to build compared to a hundred individual homes, as the single building shares many of the same components for all the units. Not only does it use less parts, but the amount of labour is only a fraction of so many houses.
By planning i meant getting the city to agree to run sewer or , water or power. They often have their own development agrenda that means a sewer won’t extens to an area for 5 years, etc. I had a well for a long time, getting city water is something I wanted no matter the cost, but city would only run the line if every farm for 10 miles bought in, so they could run it once. This is the type of stuff you have to deal with when talking with City Planners
(not the downvoter) It’s quite possible the person has no relevant skills around making and permitting complex buildings, but still they feel capable of building these sheds, and fundraising to continue expanding as small amounts of funds come in?
That’s if mid rise is even allowed there - if it’s "single family zoning", then maybe land division into small parts is their only option?
I seriously doubt the person built those things by himself. If he did, then I bet there’s no electricity or plumbing, and it would’ve just been better to buy actual trailers as he could have a fleet of them delivered in a few weeks rather than spend years of hard labour building them himself.
I would imagine that fund-raising would work regardless as long as you’re showing that this is a charity thing.
Of course, I bet any sort of joined home would be illegal there as it stands. Zoning laws are the absolute worst in most western countries, making anything but an expensive and space wasting single family house illegal to build in most housing zones. It’s the single biggest reason why housing prices are so out of control, and will likely crash taking 30% of the entire nation’s retirement savings with it in the next decade or so (since most people who buy houses and bet everything on being able to sell it at a massive markup for when they retire).