The Bee Breeders Global Housing Availability Challenge series in partnership with ARCHHIVE-BOOKS turns its attention on Paris for the next competition in the series. Paris, like so many other international cities around the world, is struggling with a huge affordable housing problem. Paris ranks in the top 10 most expensive cities to live in, meaning housing prices are naturally higher than in other regions in France.
One factor that drives up house prices is the massive demand for rental properties, and the growing trend of short-term lets to tourists. Landlords are favoring these short-term rentals in which they can earn twice as much per month as opposed to renting to long-term residents. Reduced supply and consistently high demand mean that finding an affordable place to live is nearly impossible in the city of lights.
The Paris Affordable Housing Challenge is tasking participants with designing a sustainable solution to Paris’ affordable housing problem. There is no specific location defined for this architecture competition, as such designs should be versatile enough that they can be adapted and rolled out across multiple locations in order to increase the capacity of the city’s housing stock. Participants should consider designs that are flexible enough to accommodate different sizes for various inhabitants (families, single professionals, couples, etc) and their varying requirements.
