Future of sustainable housing

 With homelessness up to 2,000 people in the U.S. since 2020 (582,462), is there anything we can do? Eco-friendly sustainable housing has been one answer proposed over the last two decades to fix this problem. Many forms of eco-friendly living have gained steam over the previous ten years, and in this article, we’ll go over a few, discuss their efficiency, and discuss what we can do to make these ideas a reality. 

According to the united nations, by 2100, the world's population will increase to 11 billion people, three more billion than the current population. One of the first things we can do to mitigate this problem is to redirect tax spending to redevelop the 16 million vacant housing units that occupy the U.S. and make a living in said units less strenuous for those struggling to get by. This sounds easier said than done, but it is possible with the infrastructure needed already being present. With proper funding, we could ensure that these units are well-equipped with clean water and reliable power sources for all citizens. This could solve homelessness, but what about the growing population? 

  Land values increase when the demand for land exceeds the supply of available land or if a particular piece of land has an intrinsic value greater than neighboring areas (e.g., oil can be found on the land). As the population increases, so does the demand for land, driving its price up over time. To get the best out of the land we don’t use, we’ll have to look back to the late 19th and early 20th century for answers. As we all know, taxes influence decisions. We tax unhealthy items to decrease the consumption of said items but taxing things that we need leads to a decline in production and consumption, leading to deadweight loss. Deadweight loss is when there are inefficient markets that are not producing the number of goods or services that society wants or needs. Georgism, coined by American political economist and journalist Henry George is the proposition of a land value tax. Since the land supply is fixed, a land tax does not decrease production and doesn’t cause deadweight loss. If one owned vast tracks of valuable, unimproved land, a land tax would encourage one to either improve the land or sell it to someone who would improve it by building houses, farms, or something else that would generate enough money to pay for the tax. In the end, the land would be used efficiently while generating tax revenue for the government. In Geogre’s “Progress and Poverty,” he argued that a single land tax was needed because most of the wealth created by social and technological advances in an industrial free market economy was owned by landowners, and many of those landowners had monopolies over markets through something called economic rent. Economic rent is essentially income gained from controlling a limited resource. So even though these landowners did nothing to improve the land value, they still made a profit. By implementing a land value tax, we could take back most of the 16 million housing units not being used, renovate or destroy them to build new sustainable housing, and ensure a home for every citizen while generating revenue. 

Now that we have established how to gain the resources needed to house every citizen, let's review the five options available today. 

Eco Domes- Eco domes are designed to optimize interior space while leaving a small overall footprint. They are made using sustainable and recycled boards and come with installed solar panels and plant walls; they take just one day to construct.

Rotating House (cooler climate)- This next house can rotate in every direction giving the owner a 360 view of the surrounding area. The house follows the sun's path through the sky and efficiently generates substantial energy through solar panels. The home also gains additional power from a heat pump down below.

Earthship (hotter weather)-Earthships were created to address six basic human needs. Those six needs are renewable energy through solar and wind power, rubbish management through reuse and recycling, a shelter made with natural and recyclable materials like tires and aluminum cans, harvesting rainwater, growing one's food, and treating sewage by feeding the wastewater to the plants, creating a closed loop system. 

Bamboo houses- Bamboo is said to be one of the world's most sustainable building materials due to how quickly it can grow; by the time the house pictured was built, all of the bamboo chopped down for the construction had already regrown. Furthermore, bamboo only takes four years to reach its harvesting age. In contrast, other forms of timber require thirty years before maturation; bamboo is the better alternative as it is the better renewable material and is cost-efficient. 

Rammed Earth- Rammed Earth housing uses an ancient building technique where raw materials such as chalk, lime, and gravel are pressed to form walls. Materials for these buildings have been sourced from the surrounding area, and the rammed earth gives the building excellent thermal mass, which prevents the inside temperatures from fluctuating throughout the day.

  With these examples laid out, it is clear that a future where sustainable living is the norm is possible. We only have one earth; continuing squandering it would be a pity for our generations. We can start petitioning for these greener homes and advocating for a more eco-friendly lifestyle by continuously spreading information and counseling local and state officials because we have the power.