Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that many who post in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table and hope to make some new friends as well. |
It’s no T-90 or Abrams tank, but I am still interested in moving to a tiny house even though they generally seem to resemble houses built on trailers, making me long for an Air Stream or something like it. OTOH if I can’t clean up my current place, why should I reward my intransigence with a mobile home or an RV.
It does raise all kinds of questions about on what kind of land/property on which to site my “home” or am I committed to do the Lanny Flank thing and wander Walmart parking lots. The real question is how much space does one need to live “comfortably” or even “spark joy”. Because an RV is a rallying point, even if David Mamet rejected a writing credit for the film, Ronin.
210,000 Hong Kong residents who live in one of the city’s thousands of illegally subdivided apartments. Some are so small they are called cages and coffins.
The numbers are striking. Hong Kong’s gap between the rich and the poor is at its widest in nearly half a century, and among the starkest in the world. It boasts the world’s longest working hours and the highest rents. Wages have not kept up with rent, which has increased by nearly a quarter over the past six years. Housing prices have more than tripled over the past decade.
The median price of a house is more than 20 times the annual median household income.
www.nytimes.com/…
A bedspace apartment (Chinese: 牀位寓所), also called cage home (籠屋), coffin cubicle, or coffin home, is a type of residence that is only large enough for one bunk bed surrounded by a metal cage.[1]: 23 This type of residence originated in Hong Kong, and primarily exists in older urban districts such as Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok, To Kwa Wan, and Tai Kok Tsui. In 2007, there were approximately 53,200 people living in cage homes in Hong Kong.[2]
Generally, the residents are low-income people, including the elderly, drug users, and some low-skilled or unskilled labourers.[3] Reports from the Legislative Council of Hong Kong found that the people who lived in cage homes were those who did not qualify for social welfare, or subsidised rent or electricity.[4] Most of the residents are male. Safety and other living conditions in bedspace apartments homes are often poor.
While often called cage homes, they are categorised as "bedspace apartments" by the Hong Kong Government. According to the Bedspace Apartment Ordinance, the term "bedspace apartment" refers to a house that contains 12 or more people who rent bedspaces individually. It is legal to run these bedspace apartments, but landlords must first apply for a special license.[5][6]
Today, people still live in cage homes because the Hong Kong government has instituted a single-person scoring system for public housing applications and lowered public housing quotas. In addition, according to a rule already in force before the handover and then transcribed into the Hong Kong Basic Law, new immigrants must wait seven years to become Hong Kong permanent residents. As such, poor immigrants are often forced to live in bedspace apartments until they receive a Hong Kong ID card.[4]
en.wikipedia.org/...
Hong Kong’s real-estate market is consistently ranked as the world’s least affordable.
www.nytimes.com/…
Hong Kong is one of the world’s most densely populated cities. With seven million people living within 423 square miles, space is scarce and living conditions are often almost unbearable. According to the Society for Community Organization, over 10,000 people in Hong Kong live in tiny “cubicle apartments” created by dividing already small apartments into even smaller units. A single square foot of Hong Kong real estate costs nearly $1,300, on average. Compared to New York, Hong Kong’s rents are 35% percent higher.
The wide-angle photos were taken by fixing a camera with a wide-angle lens to the ceiling, and then triggering a shot remotely. That is how the photographer was able to capture the cramped space in a single shot that shows even the smallest details.
inhabitat.com/…
There’s a big misconception that you need a lot of space in order to grow your own organic food. The truth is that you would be amazed at just how much food can be grown in a tiny area. Fresh, organic produce is fantastic for your health, and working with plants is actually extremely therapeutic. So, if you’re living downsized there’s still no excuse to not be growing food in your small space!
Window farms are an incredibly effective way of growing food in a tiny area. Most window farms are made from old soda bottles and use a small pump and hydroponic set-up to grow food. They are often constructed as DIY projects and best of all, there is a growing movement of window farmers around the world to learn from. You are able to find full instructions and a very active community forum on window farming from this website.
www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/...