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Support Household and Neighborhood Fit
Housing that "fits" both its residents and neighborhood is appropriate
for the types of households who live there and for its surrounding neighborhood.
Designing to support household and neighborhood fit, however, is complex,
because both households and neighborhoods vary and change over the lifetime
of a building.
Conventional apartments or houses may not be the best living arrangement
for all of these types of households: families with children, extended
families, singles, and unrelated adults. Similarly, different cultural
and ethnic groups may have different ways of organizing and using the
spaces and rooms in their housing. The standard three bedroom dwelling
with a master bedroom and two smaller bedrooms, for example, may not be
the best type of housing for unrelated adults or extended families. Unrelated
adults may be better served by equally sized bedrooms, and extended families
by dwellings with an accessory apartment or a two-family house. Consideration
also needs to be given to the appropriate size and organization of the
kitchen, dining space, and living spaces to support household interaction
and to the degree of separation to allow for privacy. Housing that includes
spaces to accommodate working at home, or shared housing - often called
"co-housing" - can increase housing affordability by providing shared
amenities, and may be more appropriate to satisfy the lifestyles of many
people with limited income and employment opportunities.
All across the United States, affordable housing is needed and has been
built in different regions for different age groups and types of households,
in varying densities and scales, and in different architectural materials
and styles. How well the housing fits into these varying neighborhood
contexts influences residents' and neighbors' acceptance of affordable
housing. A multi-family housing development, for example, may be acceptable
in a single-family residential neighborhood, if it is designed to complement
the scale and style of the surrounding homes. On an urban commercial street,
apartments above storefronts may add vitality to the community and offer
residents live/work opportunities. For any housing type, the participation
of future residents, and/or their representatives, and neighbors in decisions
about the design and site of a new housing development can enhance the
possibilities for this fit.
Link to resources
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