What does the future hold for integrated communities?
By homz | August 11, 2022
Many of us consider housing an absolute necessity. Many of us have different ambitions, demands, and dreams regarding an ideal home. While there are diverse expectations for housing, the existing market scenario doesn’t live up to that. On top of that, the housing prices in the US have skyrocketed in recent years. As per the National Association of Realtors (NRA)’s data released in May 2019, the median existing-home sales prices reached an all-time high of $391,200, up 14.8% from the previous year.
What if people get to live in a house with easy access to critical facilities like schools, public transport, and healthcare? What if cities have communities that incorporate essential amenities like libraries, fitness centers, art studios, and free spaces? What if a housing community reduces the cost of living? If you haven’t guessed yet, then we are talking about integrated housing communities. Integrated homes have emerged as a novel housing solution to the long-standing housing problem. Let’s delve deeper into this topic.
Why is the housing crisis so prominent?
When we talk about the “housing crisis” per se, the struggle is not just limited to the price of a house. The entire cost of living in that house is much more and beyond an average family’s budget. For instance, if you live in Brooklyn, NY, you pay a cumulative sales tax of 8.875%, which is significantly higher than the national average. Also, connectivity to key facilities like schools, healthcare, and public transportation is complicated. When we add these expenses together, living in metropolitan cities like New York, Boston, or LA is exceptionally high. It is evident that we need a workable solution, and we need it sooner than later.
Introducing: Integrated Communities
Integrated communities are one of the ingenious concepts that could break the deadlock of the housing crisis in the US. These housing communities incorporate all the amenities and facilities a family would require. The keen emphasis on connectivity, convenience, and accessibility ensures that the cost of living in such communities is within one’s budget. Here is how these communities will address the persisting challenges.
Convenience, Connectivity, and Accessibility
These three aspects, convenience, connectivity, and accessibility, play crucial roles in making integrated communities a viable solution to the housing crisis. These communities are developed at strategic locations, ensuring that occupants will have easy connectivity to critical facilities like public transport, healthcare, schools & universities, museums, etc. Furthermore, these communities incorporate some excellent amenities and activities like an integrated fitness center, music room, library, art studio, community kitchen, etc., covering the aspect of convenience and accessibility. These amenities mean you no longer have to travel long distances to the gym or library, saving time and money.
Multi-family Housing
Such communities are designed to be multi-family living. With the rapid shifts in demographics across the US, multi-family home is gaining an edge over single-family houses. These houses provide multifold benefits like affordability, low maintenance, security, and a sense of being part of a community. Besides, you get easy and shared access to some of the best amenities like pools, gyms, convenience stores, laundry facilities, etc., making a living in those communities affordable.
Low Cost of Living & Better Standard of Living
One of the most compelling advantages of integrated homes is that they render a low cost of living. As mentioned earlier, individuals living in those communities get hassle-free access to some of the essential amenities. Besides, these communities are built-to-rent and thus, reducing the overall cost of living there. More importantly, these communities are thoughtfully designed to improve the quality and standard of living.
Proximity to Recreational Avenues
Apart from necessary amenities and facilities, families also need interesting recreational avenues like museums, amusement parks, zoos, etc. Due to their strategic locations, integrated communities are close to numerous recreational activities and avenues.
To Wrap Up
Solving the housing crisis in the country is not plain-sailing. Many hurdles will continue to exist, like regulatory norms, taxes, and city policies will continue to exist. However, integrated communities are offering better housing alternatives to existing infrastructure. However, there needs to be joint efforts to realize these communities. Homz, the first national housing company in the US, is developing wellness-centric, integrated communities across the country.
Since these communities are strategically located across the country, occupants would easily access key amenities. In the truest sense, these communities embody the concept of ideal housing communities, providing the most desired housing solutions. Homz is partnering with public bodies to address the enduring housing crisis problem with wellness-centric, integrated communities.
