Housing Essays

by Tam Nguyen

Many cities are currently facing a serious housing shortage.

What are some of the reasons for this shortage and what solutions can you suggest?

It is undoubtedly true that in many cities, the supply of houses is unable to meet the demand for shelters. Although this is caused by several reasons, there are still some feasible solutions for this issue.

There are two main reasons why housing crisis occurs. One reason is because of the scarcity of resources. While the population increases constantly, the amount of land does not increase. Therefore, we do not have sufficient land to fulfill people’s demand for accommodations. Another cause of housing shortage is that, as the quality of healthcare in today’s life has improved dramatically, life expectancy has also increased greatly compared to the past. This leads to a significant rise in the world’s population over time, which will place a burden on housing supply.

However, we still have some feasible measures to tackle this housing problem. Firstly, building more apartments instead of houses may help mitigate the problem of resource scarcity. Since an apartment can accommodate a tremendously higher number of people than a house can, governments should encourage vertical city development instead of horizontal one. Secondly, it is highly recommended that governments restrict the increase in population, which will help decrease the excessive demand for houses. This can be done by limiting the number of children born in families. In China, for example, because the population is huge, Chinese government enforces the rule that each Chinese family must not bear more than two children.

In conclusion, housing shortage is increasingly becoming a severe problem for many cities, and this arises because of various reasons. However, we can still cope with this problem if suitable policies are implemented.

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Living in a House or Apartment

by Sze100

Some people prefer to live in a house, while others feel there are more advantages to living in an apartment.

Are there more advantages than disadvantages of living in a house compared with living in an apartment?

Many people hold the opinion that living in a house is the best. Others, however, disagree and claim that living in an apartment is even better. Hereunder I will look more thoroughly into this matter.

It is undoubtedly true that living in a flat is quite convenient due to many opportunities which it is able to provide. Everything seems to be close, especially if your block of flats is in a good location, and doing your shopping, driving your children to school or having some entertainments like nightlife, for instance, is within the reach of your hand. Moreover, you do not have to worry about repairing your roof or having your apartment insulated, as it is frequently provided by a housing association of some sort. Generally, from my personal point of view, living in a flat is perfect for people who love living in a city and enjoy everything which is connected with that.

On the other hand, having your own house has also some great advantages. Despite the fact that, in my country, living in a detached house or a mansion is often connected with a social status, it brings a lot of different possibilities which are impossible while you live somewhere else. To illustrate this, just imagine yourself sitting in your own garden, with a book and a cup of tea, listening to birds. In my opinion such a scene brings all other disadvantages of living in a house, practically, to zero.

To conclude, I would say that living in a house is for completely different group of people than living in an apartment. I have to admit that I belong to the first one thus I recommend living in a detached house to everybody.

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