This post is part of our winter 2019 blOAAg series, Housing Affordability: Built-Form Case Studies. The featured case studies are from the OAA’s 2019 report titled, Housing Affordability in Growing Urban Areas, produced by the OAA’s Housing Affordability Task Group (the HATG is a sub-committee of the Policy Advocacy Coordination Team) and SvN Architects + Planners Inc.
Case Study 01: 20k Initiative | Architect: Rural Studio, School of Architecture at Auburn University
Location: Auburn, Alabama, USA | Year: 2005 - Present
Rural Studio’s 20K Initiative is a research program where Auburn University faculty and architecture students tackle the United States’ affordable housing crisis. Launched in 2005, the 20K Initiative began with the creation of $20,000 homes for an impoverished Alabama area. However, with over 200 homes built, the 20K Initiative has also realized that the problem of affordable housing is more complex than originally thought.
Rusty Smith, associate director of Rural Studio, explains: “The issues of home affordability are not brick and mortar problems. You cannot cure all the ills of home affordability through design because a lot of it is systemic, like zoning. Architects can’t solve any of these kinds of issues because we are not in charge of them. But what architects can do is make invisible things visible.”
20Kv06 Roundwood Home (Winner of a 2015 AIA Honour Award) | GREENSBORO AL / 2008
PROJECT TEAM: Ryan Coleman, Matt Mueller, Mackenzie Stagg, Laurianne Uguen | Image credit: Timothy Hursley
Section | 20Kv06 Roundwood Home | GREENSBORO AL / 2008
PROJECT TEAM: Ryan Coleman, Matt Mueller, Mackenzie Stagg, Laurianne Uguen | Image credit: Timothy Hursley
http://www.ruralstudio.org/projects/20kv6-roundwood-house
The 20K Initiative has shifted the discussion from the cost of a home to the cost of homeownership, from purchase to post-occupancy maintenance. Secondary costs, or the costs associated with home operation and maintenance, are analyzed in relation to the initial purchasing cost of the house to attain a more comprehensive picture of the real costs of homeownership. Rather than focus on a home’s total sum cost, the 20K team is framing costs in terms of what their clients are most concerned about: monthly payments. To that end, they’ve partnered with public and private organizations, including the likes of Fannie Mae, USDA, Department of Energy, Habitat for Humanity, and more.
20Kv10 Joanne's Home | FAUNSDALE AL / 2011
PROJECT TEAM: Jacob Beebe, Erika Henriksson, Eric Schmid, Sandra Yubero | Image credit: Timothy Hursley
Elevations | 20Kv10 Joanne's Home | FAUNSDALE AL / 2011
PROJECT TEAM: Jacob Beebe, Erika Henriksson, Eric Schmid, Sandra Yubero | Image credit: Timothy Hursley
20Kv10 Joanne's Home | FAUNSDALE AL / 2011
PROJECT TEAM: Jacob Beebe, Erika Henriksson, Eric Schmid, Sandra Yubero | Image credit: Timothy Hursley
http://www.ruralstudio.org/projects/20k-v10-joannes-house
20Kv22 Home | NEWBERN AL / 2018
PROJECT TEAM: Chelsea Elcott, Kenny Fallon, Michael Kelly, Sarah Curry | Image credit: Timothy Hursley
http://www.ruralstudio.org/projects/20kv22-home
Further reading: http://www.ruralstudio.org/initiatives/20k-house
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Official release date of the full report to be announced shortly.
The report, Housing Affordability in Growing Urban Areas, was prepared by SvN Architects + Planners Inc. (John van Nostrand, Liana Bresler and Blair Scorgie with the support of Eric Pitre and Jorge Quesada Davies), with the direction and assistance of the OAA Housing Affordability Task Group.