#housing

Here’s The Cheapest Place To Live In EuropeLook, sometimes, things just get too tough where we are all living. Sometimes, the cost of living is too high, or the unrest is just too much for us to handle. These are perfectly valid reasons for us to pack up our bags and move elsewhere.Another reason for moving away from the place we once called home is for a new outlook on life. A fresh start, so to speak. If you have any of these reasons (or others, that’s also fine) as the main motivation as to why you want to move away, you’re probably considering where you should go next. For those interested in looking for places in Europe, an analysis published by YourOverseasHome has revealed the perfect destination that might be of interest to you!While their analysis is done in consideration for British people, we still think that to some extent, it may also apply to other nationalities who are looking for homes in Europe. According to them, Italy is the best destination. With its beautiful coastlines and excellent train system, the country also boasts cheap prices for its products. Groceries are 40% less expensive compared to the UK. Learn more about Italy and other potential cities you can move to here!Image credit: Anastasiya Lobanovskaya#Italy #UK #moving #migration #housing #YourOverseasHome 

A Bygone Tradition Could Ease the Housing ShortageOne reason companies have a hard time attracting employees these days is the shortage of appropriate housing nearby. For young, mobile workers, rent is too high, a year-long lease is a risk, and in some areas, there just aren't any units available at all. Where did such people live in the past? Up until the mid-20th century, many of them lived in hotels. Not necessarily expensive hotels, but places you could move into for an open-ended length of time, without having to purchase furniture or kitchenware. At one time, resort hotels became a home for families all summer long. Grand hotels accommodated both travelers and long-term residents who didn't want to be bothered with running a house (think Tennessee Williams). Rooming houses were convenient homes for singles (think Barney Fife). And SROs (single room occupancy) buildings were a place to live for those with even less money. Such living arrangements were just fine for many kinds of folks, and offered both services and flexibility. In fact, a lot of the services came from people who lived there. And such facilities had a smaller footprint than either single family houses or apartment buildings. What killed hotel living? Several factors played into its demise: social judgement, the rise of suburbia, zoning laws, building codes, leases, rent control, and the fact that such accommodations were never really seen as housing. Those are a lot of factors to overcome if we were to bring hotel living back. Read about the rise and fall of hotel living at Slate. -via Digg #hotel #roominghouse #boardinghouse #SRO #housing #housingshortage

Shipping Containers Turned Into Housing for the HomelessTo combat an upsurge in homelessness, the county of Los Angeles converted a jail site in the city's downtown into a 232-unit housing project.The Hilda L Solis Care First Village, showcased in a recent Dezeen article, is unique in that it's created using repurposed cargo containers that are converted into private apartments for homeless people.Because of the irregular shape of the site, NAC Architecture and builder Bernards teamed up to create a series of single-level structures as well as two multilevel buildings created by stacking steel shipping or cargo containers on top of each other.To make the cargo containers livable, the team cut large windows and insulated the walls and ceilings. Each brightly painted cargo container has two living units of 135 square feet (12.5 square meters) each.Images: Dan Ursitti#shippingcontainers #housing #homeless 