Micro-life

The government may be about to curb the building of small homes.  Apparently the government is worried about the fact that houses in this country are getting progressively smaller, and want to do something about it.

In a sense this is excellent.  While some people would no doubt be happy to live in a small home, and while many others would doubtless prefer a small home to no home at all, it remains the case that many new houses and apartments these days have very little storage space.  Given that the British people have a tendency - as Jerome K Jerome put it - to overload the boat of life, it is clear that a lot of people resent the trend for smaller homes.

There is a problem though, which is that larger homes require more space.  As Britain's population grows, there is a need for more housing, and the normal solutions are either to build up or build out.  Building up is where houses become taller - three storeys instead of two - or where tower blocks are built instead of housing.  Building out is where new houses are built on what used to be green land on the edge of towns.

Plans for new housing tend to meet with opposition from local people, which is pretty disgusting.  There are far too many homeless people in this country, and the problem of homelessness cannot be cured without building lots of new houses.  Arguing that the housing should simply go somewhere else is a lame response.  We need a lot of new housing, and we cannot be fussy about where exactly it goes.

If you ever dare to oppose a planning application for new housing, then you are part of the problem of homelessness in this country.  A large part of that problem, as the government recognises, is that new homes are often very cramped, and it remains to be seen how successful the government will be in tackling that.

Of course we could greatly alleviate the housing problem in this country if we stopped immigration, and we could alleviate it even further if we began a programme of voluntary assisted repatriation for those immigrants who have already settled here.  That will not happen though, because the British people will not vote for it.

Enjoy living in your rabbit hutch.

This post is also relevant: The story of a narrow garage