Gifted article --link should work
There are a lot of interesting you tubes of Cheap Tokyo apartment.
intercst
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Pre-Covid, I use to travel to Tokyo 4 to 6 times a year from 2004 to 2019; usually staying in Shinjuku. The park behind my hotel always had a large group of homeless, even in winter and the cold. But I would question if this guy knows what he is talking about…
“ Some cities, like Singapore and Vienna, have bucked the trend by using public money to build affordable housing. Almost 80 percent of Singapore residents live in public housing.”
I live in Singapore… this is their public housing:
“The average cost of an HDB property listing is S$532,768 or S$507 per square foot . Smaller flats, such as 2 and 3-room flats typically cost between S$300,000 and S$450,000. Medium-sized 4-room HDB flats are considerably pricier, costing 34% more than 2 and 3-room flats.“
T true, they can get some subsidy if purchasing their first new property but nothing about it is affordable, anybody capable is expected to work and get by without a safety net
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Yes, the way to have affordable housing is to allow it to be built and lived in. Efficiency regarding plumbing and cooking is essential, but outrages certain middle class sensibilities.
david fb
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BTW, the conversion price makes the average Singapore public house about 400K USD which is in a housing flat but without condo benefits like pools and gym, etc. That average price then become 2 or 3 times more
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It’s not just “this guy” (i.e., Cash Jordan) Lot’s of youtubers have been making videos of small, cheap apartments in Japanese cities for several years.
Heck, I’d stay in that room in the video for $40/night.
intercst
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Are the homeless taking them up? I’ve seen a few apartments in Tokyo, quite often not much bigger expect sometimes having seperate room for the bed, but not always… It looks nicer than some of the places I stayed going through Uni though I had more room.
It probably shouldn’t be difficult to have this kind of efficient/cheap accommodations in cities in the US, but what is stopping it?
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Infinite demand.
The same thing stopping individual states from offering universal health care.
It has to be offered nationwide, in every state, or else all the other states will send their “needy” to where it is “free”. And then the deluge REALLY begins.
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I’d also stay there. For a night, or three, or maybe even a week. But I wouldn’t live there full-time. Where would I put the 5 kg of chicken that I bought when it was on sale?
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$40 a night would of course be $1200 a month in rent. Pretty pricey for that tiny space.
You can get room AND BOARD cheaper than that on many college campuses and live a space of similar size.
Heck, you could enroll at some state colleges and have room and board and tuition cheaper than $40 a day.
Heh, if I was a cheapo single senior citizen, I would actually consider doing that very thing.
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Compared to what alternative in central Tokyo? Could be that a standard small apartment (20-30 sq m) costs more than $1200/mo?
That’s not really true. You can only get room&board if you are a student there. And to become a student, you have to be accepted, and have to register for classes. You have to remain a full-time student (>11 credit-hours/semester), and you have to remain in good standing. And if you don’t graduate within 6 years, they will usually revoke your right to housing.
You don’t see too many 60 year olds (like me) living on college campuses.
I pay for my kids in college/graduate school. For the two in state schools, I pay $1000/mo plus some fees for each. That covers the room only. It’s a very nice room though, an apartment for two, common kitchen, common living area, bedroom+bathroom+WIC for each kid. For the one in graduate school, it’s a regular apartment that she shares and is about $2400/mo for each of them. For all of them, food and household items are additional.
Not anymore. I don’t think any of them are that cheap anymore.
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I don’t know about the Japanese homeless, but the fact that two people earning the minimum wage can find an affordable 2-bedroom apartment in Japan is a completely different world than most US cities where you have working people sleeping in their cars.
intercst
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If you are going to dispute my claim, you owe to yourself to do more than “think (assume).” Take the time to do a little bit of research.
I don’t make definitive statements without first doing my research. 
Tuition 2700, R&B 4500.
This isn’t the only one, but it is the only one in the top 10 (that were below 12k total) that was located any place I would consider living. The rest were in the south but in terrible land-locked locations.
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And in the Great North…
Canada needs 3.45 million more homes by 2030 to cut housing costs as population grows
https://archive.ph/sIa1l
The 3.45 million new units across the country would be in addition to the 1.68 million that are expected to be built by 2030 if the pace of construction remains the same.
DB2
With locations in Palo Alto, San Francisco and Bakersfield, Brownstone Shared Housing has converted two homes and an office space into dwellings for dozens of people, with rents ranging from $500 to $900 per month.
The basic pods are a very cozy 3.5 feet wide and 4 feet tall, just big enough to fit a twin mattress. They feature amenities such as charging stations, LED lights and individual climate control systems. Residents share bathrooms and utilize storage lockers for their belongings, most of which won’t fit into the pods…
California’s housing crisis has been a key factor in a mass departure of people from the state. Some 500,000 more Californians left in a recent two-year period than arrived. And about 40% of the state’s residents are considering leaving, according to a recent poll, with housing cited as a main concern.
DB2
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Japan is famous for the business hotels you describe. Essentially an enclosed bunk with a bathroom down the hall. Sometimes compared to “rabbit hutches.”
You wonder if the US homeless would find rabbit hutches acceptable. It does provide protection from theft and many of the problems of “flop houses.”
And then comes the NIMBY problem. If employed in the US who would allow their construction in their neighborhood?
Low income housing is a AAA indicator of the extreme racism we still have in the US. Most areas will usually cite crime as their reason for objecting to any and all in most residential areas. “Crime” is one of those dog whistles for racism. Pure and simple.
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I know that lifestyle, except without the individual lighting and climate controls. This pic was taken on the Hornet, a sister of the Lex. Apparently, the guys have curtains on their racks on newer ships. I can’t remember if the seats in the head had partitions on the Lex. I distinctly remember there were no partitions between the seats in Camp Moffett at Great Lakes. We all sat cheek to cheek.
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That means there are 500,000 “beds” available. I suppose the housing problem is much alleviated at this point.
(Somehow I doubt a net 500,000 left the state in such a short time. Maybe if you include border dodgers, the net departures are much lower?)
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There was a lot of moving around during covid and the increase of work from home/wherever; that probably increased the number.
DB2
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