Yes, the word apodment has the word "pod" in it. The rental prices in Seattle are going up by the minute. Lots of students there. Lots of young people starting out, and like everywhere in this country, lots of baby boomers. Ten years ago in quiet neighborhoods like Ballard people were building 4 plex units in their back yards. Then, single family houses were being torn down and skinny 3 or 4 story apartment houses were being thrown up. Then, within a few years, whole blocks were being made into apartments. Now, the new thing is to make these tiny little pod units with no parking, no room for landscaping and where you can put 25 couples into a lot that was formerly a single family house.
I have mixed feelings about these places. "There goes the neighborhood" is no joke here. Some of them look like 1950s Russian design. Not gorgeous. I think of the tenements in New York in the 1800s. Absolutely amazing how many people could cram into a tiny space. At least these new ones have indoor plumbing, or plumbing at all for that matter. Seattle today doesn't look like the kind of place where many folks will gather on the front stoop on a summer evening. Who knows? Maybe a whole new social structure will be born and redefine the idea of neighborhood.
On the other side of my mind a little voice is happy that there will be affordable housing for many who can't be in the game because of the high prices. I can see young folks who have jobs getting their sea legs economically by having a new, clean, convenient to town place to sleep. I say 'place to sleep' because I picture these kids going out for coffee, going to work, going to the gym, going out for food and a beer and then going home to sleep. I don't picture a lot of entertaining and lounging going on in these tiny spaces.
Then I think about the old folks. Maybe this is the answer to a prayer for an infirm elder. If these rent for $500 a month and an assisted living joint costs over $9,000 or something a month, maybe a geezer could have more fun and more independence and more random luxuries (like massage) for their money in such a place. But, I am not the first to think of this. They are now building granny pods with wheelchair wide doors, handicapped bathrooms, surveillance cameras ( just one step up from NSA, one step down from personal drones) to address the really old or infirm.
With all the prosperity in Seattle (and it is evident everywhere) with all the bright young things creating bright things, are we actually in the business of building slums or is this a creative answer to overcrowding and overpricing? I don't know. I assume that if it is going on in Seattle, it is going on in lots of places. I can't quite sort out my feelings about whether this would be for me or not. I have certainly considered plunking one of those lovely little houses in some yard somewhere for my old age and renting it on airb&b while I can still travel. Being old, being young, lots of logistical problems. Some of the places I saw actually look a lot like nursing homes with common eating and social areas. It would kind of take away from the excitement of painting that first college apartment that had fifty coats of paint already. It was sort of fun going from a middle class upbringing to a sketchy edgy place.But then, we didn't work all day and never dreamed of going to the gym. Different times.
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