Mastodawn

Single-person households in Australia have increased significantly over the last 50 years, rising from 18% in 1981 to 26% (approx. 2.37 million) of households in 2021.

This is a choice, not a disease. And there is plenty of evidence that single people are happier, particularly when they are older.

So why do we persist in creating housing regulations that actually punish tiny living for single people?

Show thread

UkeleleEric 6d ago

@joannejacobs Dunno how that compares to the UK, but I do notice that many new houses are 4 or 5 bedroom places, when we rarely have families that need that. Most families are 3 or 4 people, requiring 3 bedrooms. So it doesn't even work for most people, let alone single people.

Show thread

Joanne Jacobs

@UkeleleEric it's mad. It's probably cheaper (counterintuitively) to build larger places because then you don't have complexities with plumbing and noise reduction. But that's not creating the building mix we need for the society we are creating, or even the one we have.

(Also I lived in London very happily in a one bedroom flat for 4.5 years - probably the best years of my life.)