If I had to divvy up how I think of actions in housing into three, how would that go?
The first leg is the actions of the people who live in the homes—what they like for their comfort or their physical needs. Their actions in the care and maintenance of the home. It might be their actions in demanding that builders create for them, like whether a granny suite in the lower level is thought into the plan.
The second leg of the stool would entail actions on the physical structures. And yes, there’s overlap here with leg number one. But much more as the structure must bend to the demands of the infrastructure hooking the building into services—electricity, natural gas lines, and water mains. The building must stand up to the expectations of insurance companies and building codes. And the homes must not trouble the earth by being too close to natural habitats or in the paths of wildfires.
The last leg of the stool are the actions taken by all the group work mulling around in the vicinity of the property. Actions taken to support the school district or prevent massage parlors. Actions that plan for shopping malls and means of getting to the airport. The third section that impacts housing are all the formal and informally organized groups offering services to the people in the homes.
Those are my three legs to the housing stool.
Home Economics 