Tiny Houses, Understaffed Construction, and the Stagnation of Rebuilding

"The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not."

--- Niccolo Machiavelli 

Step aside, Airstream trailers: there's a new domicile on the market, and it's coming soon to a parking lot or backyard near you. Dubbed "Tiny Houses" or "Tiny Homes," these miniature domestic masterpieces are quickly becoming a trend. Certainly, population expansion and land shortages in the world's metropolises necessitate the eventuality of a move to create more space-efficient housing, but this is far from the sole cause for the popularity of these diminutive architectural wonders.

For some, the draw is ecological: tiny houses afford the owner the ability to make a smaller carbon footprint, and enable one to live in nature if local law permits. For others, it's a matter of convenience: Akua Schatz and Brendon Purdy of Vancouver, B.C. built a 500-square-foot home in the backyard of Purdy's parents to aid in the care of his ailing mother. Still others see tiny homes as the simplest solution to the predicament of poverty which has befallen exponential amounts of Americans since the beginning of what media is calling "The Great Recession".

Despite recent reports that the American unemployment rate has hit a five-year low, dipping to 7.7%. While this does indicate a rise in available jobs, it also reflects a new trend in unemployed workers of simply giving up the job search altogether. As more and more Americans reach the limit on their unemployment benefits, rates drop in concordance, but do not tell the full story of unemployed adults in America. While job creation has been steadily rising since the economic collapse of 2008, it has not come close to making up for the mass layoffs and corporate bankruptcies of the Great Recession.

Within the Federal Reserve, vilified by many as the cause of this five-years-and-counting economic plague, there is talk of a return to pre-recession currency creation practices; this would mean an end to what has, since 2008, been a crisis-management operation. The problem inherent in such a return to past policies, however, is that we cannot expect an American landscape so marred by the current recession to operate in the same fashion as it did prior.

A prime example of such a shift in values and spending habits is that of the construction industry, which would be currently booming if not for a distinct lack of suitable workers. It's not that all those construction workers previously disenfranchised by the economic collapse have simply vanished from the face of the earth; rather, they have long since moved on to greener pastures. In an era when technology can advance in the blink of an eye, could we truly expect American citizens not to have evolved in response to such rampant and cloying adversity?

Klif Andrews, president of Pardee Homes in Las Vegas, expressed astonishment at the recent trend of previously unemployed construction workers not only having found new industries in which to work, but also having relocated for jobs in states where unemployment rates never rose to begin with. While the landscape of America has, indeed, shifted in a matter of mere years, the spirit of the American citizen has not betrayed its roots: when our dreams are challenged, we find new ways of achieving them. Construction workers, witnessing rampant job loss and pay decreases, chose to modify their careers to compensate. Still, some hold tight to the tethers of the traditions of the past.

For those who still might idealize the 4000-square-foot mansions in the hills or 4-wheel-drive gas guzzlers, America may soon be less hospitable, thanks to a move toward making what little one might have stretch as far as possible. In an age when there is a 17% discrepancy between construction employment and demand for new houses to be built, thus driving up building times and costs, those still mired in the past may find themselves designing their own tiny homes when the challenges of modern house-building become too much for their pocketbooks to handle.

As the Federal Reserve remains inextricably tied to the ebbs and flows of the stock market, nothing in the economic future of America is certain. It becomes, then, incumbent upon citizens to make their own adjustments and decisions as to the welfare of their own financial futures. Infinite banking can enable ordinary citizens to take control of their financial destinies and take them out of the hands of corporate bankers. Whether your dream is a palatial estate or an eco-friendly tiny house, the security of knowing your money will not be ripped from your possession by another Great Recession will be worth every penny you invest.

References (click to link to articles):
"A Vancouver home to blog about," The Globe and Mail, 6/16/2011.

"Housing jobs jump, but many workers aren't coming back," CNBC, 3/8/2013.

"Saving for the day he can buy his own tiny house on wheels," Southwest Michigan's Second Wave, 3/7/2013.

"Want the Fed to tighten? Don't hold your breath," CNBC, 3/8/2013.