New York mayor pushes micro-apartments
Not only should soft drinks be smaller, but living units also should, Michael Bloomberg suggests. His goal is to create more housing for smaller households.
If you thought New York City apartments couldn't get any smaller, Mayor Michael Bloomberg disagrees.
He is asking developers to submit proposals for a new building made up of "micro-apartments" of 275 to 300 square feet. As envisioned by the mayor, the units would have bathrooms and kitchens, windows even, but no closet — which seems like an epic fail from the beginning.
You might learn to live with less closet space but NO closet space? We think the mayor's design can be improved. His honor, by the way, has a 12,500-square-foot townhouse.
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While a number of New Yorkers live in less than 300 square feet, city zoning laws require that most apartments be more than 400 square feet. And the city has just 1 million studio and one-bedroom apartments to accommodate 1.8 million households of one or two people, the mayor said.
"We want people to come here — to start out, start their careers here, start their families here — and if you don’t have the kind of housing that they need, they can’t do that," Bloomberg said.
The apartments might rent for less than the market rate of $2,000 a month, which sounds like a lot but could be a deal in New York City. The final price is up to the developer.
You can see the mayor's suggested floor plan and see how it looks with two people inside it here.
Perhaps the proposed ban on supersize soft drinks is to help New Yorkers fit into smaller spaces.
San Francisco is considering a proposal to allow apartments as small as 220 square feet, though that proposal calls for closets.
While New York City and San Francisco are looking at smaller apartments as an issue of economics, an entire cult has grown up in celebration of small-space living, whether it's a 78-square-foot apartment, a house on wheels or a family home of just 168 square feet.
"What people have noticed is that it’s stressful to deal with a lot of things," Janel Laban, the executive editor of the popular désign website Apartment Therapy, told The New York Times. "Living more simply, as you’re forced to do in a small space, you can find that life is less stressful."
We're not sure living without a closet would be stress-free, especially in 300 square feet, but we agree with Laban's premise that less stuff often equals less stress.
Could you live in a 300-square-foot apartment? And how would you design it?
| Tags: | smallspaces |
If everybody in the world lived at the standards of Canadians, we would need 3 more Earths to provide the resources. It would take even more for everybody to live up to current American standards. Even though the price could be dropped some, it is comparably cheaper than other New York housing at the same scale. I love Bloomberg's dynamic and nonpartisan policies. They reflect the kind of progress and respect an Independent president could bring to our country which is always plagued by mudslinging and unorganization by two rich, influential, and corrupt parties.
I have several times; my last place was 300sq ft. I fit a queen size bed, a sofa, and a reclining leather chair. It had a full size kitchen, and bath (w/ tub). Small closet space but it worked. You have to be creative in dealing with small quarters. All clutter needs to be put away, and furniture needs to be placed in such a way that you create path ways to walk around. Most people that visited my space including the owner of the building loved how I decorated the apt (always asking if they could use my apt as a model unit). I would laugh. Design can be important, however I feel what most important is keeping it clean and sharp looking as much as you can, it made my life a lot easier. Most Items I purchased are from Ross, Marshalls, and Tuesday Morning (Very inexpensive way to go).
About Teresa Mears
Teresa Mears is a veteran journalist who has been interested in houses since her father took her to tax auctions to carry the cash at age 10. A former editor of The Miami Herald's Home & Design section, she lives in South Florida where, in addition to writing about real estate, she publishes Miami on the Cheap to help her neighbors adjust to the loss of 60% of their property value.
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