Replacement Housing

offers the opportunity to

trade-up without leaving

the neighborhood.

or air quality standards is impractical. Since these homes were built, buyer profiles have changed, singles, professionals and two-income households now predominate and require more baths, bigger kitchens for more appliances, more closet and storage space, larger living areas for more possessions, more garage space for more cars. In short as statistical wealth has increased, so have possessions requiring greater size in the built environment.

Additionally, how living space is used has changed. Today’s buyers want open floor plans, first or second floor laundries, 3 or 4 baths, offices, media rooms, large master suites with walk-in closets and full baths to better fit their expansive lifestyles – features never envisioned or planned for when these older homes were built. Without up-to-date housing options to meet these needs, neighborhoods lose a percentage of their residents annually who move up and out in search of them.

Today, most buyers no longer purchase a home for their lifetime but more typically for a specific period or phase of it. (i.e.: starter, move up, retirement, etc.) These lifecycle phases are further impacted by marriage, divorce, birth, death, promotion, transfer or job loss, etc. To better meet these new realities neighborhood housing options need to diversify, providing more choice, greater flexibility and economic variety than has been traditionally available in the past. Essentially they must provide greater choice to ensure continuous reinvestment and growth – the better to maintain viability in the intense competition for economic relevance and continued housing appreciation. Cities themselves must maintain and foster vibrant and growing neighborhoods and tax bases for their own economic well being. As increased congestion and population growth bring more people seeking convenience, accessibility, and the urban experience, neighborhoods must provide a broader range of housing options to meet these more diverse needs.

Replacement Housing efforts are contributing to help meet these needs. Privately initiated and funded, they cull the least desirable housing stock, replacing it with more up to date structures that expand economic diversity and provide greater choice for buyers. Simultaneously they create momentum and synergy which aids nucleation and spawns further improvement and reinvestment efforts that percolate through neighborhoods magnifying the impact.

The biggest challenge communities face is changing the way they think about the built environment by developing regenerative policies that don’t absolutize the present at the expense of the future. Doing this will not be without trial and error, but not doing it condemns them to relive the past – a snapshot of which can be clearly seen in the present. One has only to look at the north side of Minneapolis which has continued to be a major challenge for housing advocates despite the massive amounts of public monies spent to stabilize or replace much of its housing stock.

The alternative is clear: improve neighborhoods through selective pruning now, strengthening them through voluntary, privately funded replacement efforts that help revitalize community one house at a time. It is a much more fiscally-responsible and taxpayer-friendly approach with far more predictable and rewarding results.