|
|
We have just moved our discussion forums to a new platform. We will soon be changing
the description on this page to reflect changes in the forums. Follow this link for more information and a link to the FLOW "Pod" and Forums at Zaadz.com.
How do we ensure
that more people have the power to support themselves through
meaningful work that is valuable to others?
- One of our primary focuses is on housing because housing costs make up 30-60% of the household budgets of the poor in the developed world (and typically a higher percentage the poorer one is). Moreover, the overall “affordability” strategies used in making affordable housing more widely available will also be used to bring better health care and education to the marginalized. The downloadable article “The Creation of Conscious Culture Through Educational Innovation,” available at the “Experience Flow” links page is also relevant.
- Lynn Becker, “Beyond the Trailer Park: Out-of-the-Box Design Innovations in
Manufactured Housing at the Field Museum.”
“Looking at all these high-tech bells and whistles, the
question arises as to whether these designs can really
be built at an affordable prize . . . “It would be very
expensive to produce a prototype of many of them. At this
point they read like boutique housing, but it doesn't have
to be boutique if it were produced in large numbers. The
Model T Ford, if they only produced one or a hundred, would
have cost a fortune. . . . Maybe we should be questioning
why we're not building houses the way we build cars . .
. We're very willing to accept cars off an assembly line.
We've come to recognize our manufacturing plants that create
a great diversity of consumer products and meet consumer
demand, yet in our housing somehow we insist that it has
to be site-build to be a good home."
- Karen Jensen, “Manufacturing a New Kind of Affordable Housing: Seattle's Noji
Gardens. A practical real world example of using manufactured
housing to provide more affordable housing.
- Glaeser, Gyourko, and Saks, “Why is Manhattan So Expensive?
Regulation and the Rise in House Prices.”
Although Manhattan is obviously just one area, this study
does a good job of showing exactly how regulation results
in higher housing prices.
- Glaeser, Gyourko, and Saks, “Why Have Housing Prices Gone
Up?”
This paper extends their analysis to the U.S. as a whole
and show that, while construction costs are decreasing,
housing costs have increased 72% since 1970, largely
as a result of regulation and “increased quality,” some
of
which may be regulation-driven.
- William Tucker, “How Rent Control Drives Out Affordable
Housing.” Includes
a great graph showing the distribution of rental units
in free market Philadelphia (numerous low-rent units available)
vs. the distributions of rental units in rent-controlled
NYC (virtually only high-rent units available).
- Wright and Rubin, “Is Homelessness a Housing Problem?”
A helpful survey of the various causes contributing to
homelessness. Although the article recognizes the dramatic
elimination of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels in the
1970s contributed greatly to the explosion of homelessness
in the 1980s, the authors prefer subsidized housing to
our goal of making privately-supplied housing more affordable
again.
- Jason Furman, “WalMart, A Progressive Success Story.”
Among other things, Furman’s article reminds us of the
extraordinary benefits to poor people Walmart brings;
he cites an estimate of $265 billion per year in savings
which
mostly go to lower income people. If manufactured housing
was a legal option in more areas, a “Walmart of housing”
could bring similar savings to low-income housing.
- Vipassana Meditation. An extraordinary,
rigorous, ten-day course in self-discipline, focus,
and well-being, AT NO COST. “There are no charges for the
courses - not even to cover the cost of food and accommodation.
All expenses are met by donations from people who,
having
completed a course and experienced the benefits of
Vipassana, wish to give others the opportunity to also
benefit.”
The
marginalized in our society often suffer most deeply
from an absence of self-discipline, focus, and well-being;
a
free course that may put them on a path to strength
and recovery ought to be encouraged. It has been used in
prisons in India with remarkable results. This type of
free training,
from a variety of paths, is apt to be far more effective
than are various “job training” programs that don't
address
underlying issues.
>Back to Top
|
Want to make the world a better place?
"Criticize by Creating"
~Michelangelo
Would you like to join us to liberate
the entrepreneurial spirit for good?
Email
us for printed copies of the FLOW brochure.
|
