The bad news of the city I live in is the price of housing is going through the roof.

 

The good news is the city council seems to be interested in finding ways to rectify this

 

I've seen information on several possibilities, here's what I know, I'd like some reliable info on these and other possiblities, I'll turn over the infor to the city council as I recieve it.

 

 

Cord wood - good possiblity except here in redwood country, wood is profitable for other purposes

 

Hay - Climate is too wet for it, decays when exposed to moisture

 

Cobb (Earth) - Too unsafe in quakes??????? Too labor intensive?

 

PaperCrete (Recycled Paper) - Water won't harm it, unknown otherwise

 

 

Any good info? Links?

clay + cement + steel = house

i don't think the construction is the issue. standard materials are pretty cheap. the main problem is the demand for houses as investment opportunities.

It's going to be a tent city for now. The city intent on building a sane response to a Federal Court of Appeals ruling that says that eigther cities have to provide enough beds for the homeless or something similiar, or they can not prohibit sleeping. I was part of the team trying to get Eureka's law thrown out, and even then, we all knew this opened a real can of worms.

 

Now that I have the city council's rescources on the same path, if I need help here in a few months about cost reduction (labor, land infrastructure, materials (small amounts may be cheap, but is an entire house full that cheap?), I'll be able to ask more specific questions.

erm... What Country/city are we even Talking about here?

Prices do not "go up" by themselves. It is the greed from speculators speculating on speculations who push prices up. There is no other reason.

 

And the cities follow happily as rising figures bring more taxe$ for existing services with no need to invest. Municipalities may not become happy from cheap construction; to believe a city prefers low housing prices is a mental masturbation.

 

Believe it or not, the problem is there is too many people with too much money who never had to sweat for it.

Miguel

the longer something has been out of production the more it is worth. were not making new land anytime soon. the prices arent going to be significantly affected by the materials themselves.