Review of Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing

By Ann Mayhew | February 18, 2021

Bold Type Books

BOOK VALUE

The housing crisis in the U.S. shows no signs of abating. “The data suggest that the current housing paradigm—predominantly oriented around owning a single-family home—is unaffordable, unhealthy, and out of step with consumer demand,” writes Diana Lind in her new book Brave New Home, a highly readable look at how we got here and what we can do about it.

So, what’s to be done?

Armed with compelling research and examples, Lind makes the argument for increasing housing options, and she presents ways for these options to become part of the status quo. She examines co-living, multigenerational living, tiny homes and micro-units, and wellness living, all emerging—or, as the book illustrates, reemerging—ways of living beyond the white-picket fence.

Brave New Home begins by examining the history of housing in the U.S. This history lesson illuminates how today’s preference for single-family homes did not develop organically; rather, it was fueled by media campaigns, private companies with financial interest, and government regulations and tax codes. All too often, these efforts were steeped in racism and classism.

In the rest of the book, Lind looks in-depth at different types of housing solutions. Connection-seeking millennials, for example, are drawn to co-living arrangements. Aging baby boomers and immigrants are staying comfortably close to family in housing designed for multigenerational living. And everyone can benefit from what Lind terms “housing that heals,” which includes health-focused communities such as Serenbe in Georgia, housing-first endeavors, and development plans such as those for the Destination Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota.

Tools at our disposal to make non-single-family homes common and socially accepted include changing city zoning laws and ordinances, among other government policies. Lind cites Minneapolis’s elimination of single-family zoning, as well as the University of Minnesota’s Mapping Prejudice campaign, as examples other cities can follow.

The narrative also needs to change. The media often brands non-single-family-home housing in disparaging ways, from calling co-living “adult dorms” to only highlighting the most luxurious tiny homes. Worse, Lind writes, “the affordable housing crisis is frequently covered in ways that reinforce stereotypes.” She later adds: “We’ll need to reexamine and be prepared for a genuine change in our long-held assumptions about how to solve the housing crisis.”

“Until the United States overcomes its fear of diverse communities, it’s never going to have the housing options it truly needs,” Lind observes. While the author makes this case in a refreshing, no-nonsense way, the absence of reference to Indigenous housing is conspicuous. Culturally appropriate housing, such as Minneapolis’s Mino-bimaadiziwin Apartments, is a housing type that deserved attention in this book.

The single-family home is not going away, nor should it. But increasing the types of housing options available will enable communities to address the housing crisis, climate change, and inequity, as well as simply meet the needs and wants of a changing population. Brave New Home is a compelling read for those willing to start reshaping the residential landscape to meet the needs of a brave, new future.

Purchase from an independent bookstore near you.