General Discussion

Plus the type of homes we have been taught to want - think Ma & Pa Kettle and HGTV.

If you drive through our community and look at the oldest homes they are huge 2 story 4 bedroom homes that were built during the hay days when business was booming. They belonged to the CEOs of the time.

There are also the smallest homes that housed their workers. One story with at most two bedrooms and maybe a basement. The one I live in had one bedroom and a living area that included the kitchen. That part of the house has a basement. Two bedrooms were added later. Often times they built the basement first to live in while they then added the one bedroom living area to it. Much of the work on these homes was done by the owner himself.

Then in the late 50s came the ranch style home with 3 bedrooms and a basement. Bigger, Better and More became the slogan. These came with 30 year loans. The difference was more space and a bedroom for mom and dad and two or three kids. More kids were accommodated by a girls room and a boys room.

From then on we were convinced that we needed bigger and bigger homes until today all you have to do is watch HGTV and you see what we think we need today. It comes as no surprise to me that so many of the people looking for housing on HGTV are rich. They are the only ones who can afford the kind of houses that the bankers are willing to finance today.

IMO the little house movement is the best thing that has happened in the housing industry lately. While everyone cannot live in a little house at least we are getting away from the idea that we need a mansion to live in.

And by the way I do not see living in a two or three generation home is such a bad thing.

I remember my grandmothers both had their children living with them. One lived with her widowed daughter in her little house because they needed to use their combined income in order to be able to live anywhere. The other had the same problems and here two single daughters lived with her to supplement the income. I lived in my parents home when I first got divorced and they lived with me when I went to college so that they could help with childcare. Mother came to live with me when she was old because she needed care. Today I am living with my grandson because he needs the extra money to pay the rent.

My family always saw it as being an extended family.
We have never stopped being an extended family. And I actually hope we never do.

One of the big problems I see with government housing programs is that they are still demanding the Bigger Better and More ideal. They are giving loans to people for those HGTV houses when they are dealing with poor families. They are ignoring those who would be perfectly happy in smaller housing which they could actually afford.