Guess what? We can solve the housing crisis. Seriously. Millions of single-family homes (and boomers own most of them) are underused and on spacious lots. If they were retrofitted they could be converted into “roommate houses” and accommodate backyard cottages.
A developer in Dallas converted his 2,400 square foot home into four studio apartments, each with an outside entrance. Each has connecting doors to the rest of the house that remain unused. He didn’t do it for the income. His purpose was to allow him to claim he lives in a single-family home and is in accordance with local zoning. He calls it a suburban retrofit.
America needs between four and eight million more homes. Meeting that need by building new homes and apartment complexes is too slow and ponderous. But we have 145 million homes that already exist and two-thirds of them are single-family. The loophole then, is to allow the single-family homes to become multifamily.
It’s not clear how many of these single-family homes are owned and occupied by baby boomers, but if they started renting out their empty rooms – voila – big problem solved. Many boomers are already living with one or more of their offspring who are unable to buy homes of their own. How much difference would it make to take in boarders the way people did post-depression?
I’m looking at you baby boomer living in 3,000 sf 4-bedroom house. Why not take in one or more renters? The space is going unused and the extra income can go a long way to reducing your property tax burden. Co-habitation a little to crowded for you? At least consider an accessory dwelling unit out back. More and more communities are altering zoning to accommodate this trend.
Boomers have often been tagged with the bad rap of being selfish, but if we opened up our homes to renters, it might prove to everyone that we can be part of the solution rather than the problem. Just saying.
Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.
