Yi Wu

Your Home Platform is a project reimagining home ownership in the future.

Problem:

Homes are one of our essential needs. It is unsurprising many people's biggest worries are their homes – the ability to own one, the ability to provide good shelter for their family. In recent times, notable research are pointing at the alarmingly increasing rate of people still renting at an older age. The fear is that the newer generation will never be able to make it to home ownership, with real worrying consequences; like postponing family formation, hindering relationships, personal wealth, having enough pension to retire.

Needs:

By dissecting the society's housing needs through design research, we conclude that needs for housing can largely be understood in two timeframes. Today, it is having ‘the ability to'. For the future, we are talking about having ‘the security of’. Wherever we live today, we want the ability to accumulate wealth, and the ability to express personal desires on individual homes. At the same time, we want to be assured that our housing decisions today provide financial security and housing security for the future. Knowing that my wealth will be there; that it can be used when I need to, and that the shelter above my head will be there providing physical and psychological safety.

Solution:

We reimagine a housing model that will be fit for today and future generations. Instead of individually owning a home, it will be platform owned houses. The platform will be a collective joint venture between the state, banks, developers, and other corporations. As an occupant, I pay a monthly housing fee, and this fee will accumulate in the housing fund pool, which I can access when I reach pension age. It solves the affordability issue, because in this speculative future there is no rent, the money I pay today will simply be the money I can access in the future as my own wealth. It solves ownership issues, because any houses I stay in, I have the right to use and make improvements to.