Lessons from Extreme Home Makeover

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article titled Realty Check: 'Extreme Makeover' Downsizes Its Dream Homes. The article discusses the popular TV show Extreme Home Makeover and some of the challenges faced by participants in the show who have their homes supersized and renovated for viewer entertainment.  The show and concept is great – help deserving families improve their homes to accommodate disabilities or the good work the family does.

Problems have come up though – including high maintenance costs for the homes and in at least one case a home whose equity was too much to pay down once a large mortgage was taken out on the property.

I think the challenges that the home makeover recipients have faced can help inform responsible housing policy here in Saint John.

Projects like Housing Alternatives’ One Home project in the north end will help families buy modest condominiums in the neighbourhood dominated by rental housing.  What I like about this project is that it allows people to build equity.  Similarly, Habitat for Humanity helps families buy affordable modest homes.

While building great big homes for folks can be heart warming, building modest affordable homes that meet needs for people is a far better model.  I hope that projects like Habitat’s houses and the One Home project continue to gain traction in our community.  By allowing people the opportunity to buy an affordable home these projects benefit people and hopefully do not saddle them with unwieldy debt.

Similarly, multi-family developments should be able to provide quality housing without putting non-profit developers in financial peril.  Bells and whistles should be kept in check so that housing that benefits people can be successful in the long term.