With housing prices rising at an accelerated rate, people are beginning to look for offbeat affordable housing solutions. One such solution is in the form of prefabricated housing units that are stackable. These smart and unique housing units are called Bloks, from a company called Blokable. They can be connected and stacked up to five units high. Essentially, Bloks are like real-life, habitable legos.
Blokable’s first complex opened in July of 2018 in Puget Sound, Washington, which has some of the highest housing prices in the US. It consists of 70-units with studio, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom sized housing units available. The price for each unit is based on the interested occupant’s income. The project came together because of a partnership between the Seattle-based Compass Housing Alliance and Blokable. The land for the project was donated by Edmonds Lutheran Church.
Blokable works with non-profit organizations, corporations, and religious organizations who are willing to donate land for their housing projects because they offer a service without taking the equity.
“We are housing development as a service,” says Co-CEO Aaron Holm. “We don’t think the market is working correctly, it is siphoning wealth to an increasingly small portion of the population . . . People are being blocked out of the opportunity for homeownership.”
In order to combat this housing crisis affecting people across the nation, Blokable is building housing units that don’t sacrifice quality for the low price tag. Each Blok is equipped with smart home technology, allowing occupants to easily control their electricity and water use. Moreover, the Bloks can be customized for each project, allowing the design to be adjusted based on what works best for a certain location. For each square foot of the Bloks, the manufacturing costs can fall between $150 and $350.
Blokable’s service is a welcome solution for affordable housing that will greatly benefit those struggling to purchase a home in today’s housing market.
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