Mental Models about Demographics

In search of housing solutions for students, singles and seniors.

That was an older description of the site before I moved to Ideas for Market Rate, Car-Optional Housing for Households of 1-3 people. 

People hear affordable housing and they think of chronically poor, underprivileged people with no prospects. They think of people they view as charity cases and, no, that's not a nice thing to say about someone.

Retirees or seniors are understood to typically be living on a limited budget but not really viewed as poor per se. They have time on their hands and typically have accumulated skills and life experience where living on a budget is to some degree a choice that frees them up to ditch the full-time job lifestyle.

Students are understood to be investing in a better future for themselves and living on a budget so they can focus on their studies.

Single people who live alone typically have less money but also fewer financial and time burdens than the married with children crowd.

It's not really per se the target market I have in mind. It's an attempt to find language and mental models for the builder to view their target market as whole people with full lives who need access to transportation and food options and other amenities.

That's what makes this different from poverty housing. Poverty housing has one metric for success: cheap rent.

That focus means builders frequently cut out important things necessary to a full life and better future. 

Poverty housing limits access to and participation in society. It traps you in a private hell where getting a decent meal is a challenge. It undermines your physical health, your social life, your educational opportunities and job opportunities.

I want you to be designing housing with cheap rent and a full life. And you are more likely to do that if you are thinking about housing for a mix of seniors, students and singles than for "poor people."