The ProHousing Project

Since the early 1980s, the United States has found itself in a housing crisis: runaway and sprawling development, rising land prices and property taxes, increasing homelessness, households even with two incomes struggling to afford the excessively large houses that we unquestioningly accept as required as part of the "American Dream".

Ron Konzak originally developed ProHousing in 1992 to fit the needs of the recently incorporated City of Bainbridge Island in Washington State, but he is convince that similar problems exist everywhere, and that similar solutions and shifts in attitude will apply to other areas of the United States and the world.

This study investigates the subject of affordable housing and the following topics in particular:

What is "affordable housing"?

What are the minimum standards for a quality living environment?

How can affordable housing be built on unaffordable land?

What changes in zoning, building codes, property tax structure, lending practices, etc., need to accompany innovative housing design?

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ProHousing Main Page The Issues Zoning & Planning
Minimum Standards Local & Global
Solution Scenarios Accessory Dwelling Garage House Scattered Density Shared House Owner-Built House
Recommendations Ongoing Research Links
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ProHousing - Copyright © 1991, 1999 by Ron Konzak
Please credit the author when distributing all or portions of this material.
Written permission from the author is required for any commercial use of this material.

Photo: Rolling Home, Rockaway Beach, New York, 1933 by Charles Miller