An Oklahoma lawmaker has suggested his state should start allocating money for 3D printed homes, saying it could help create more affordable housing.
According to FOX 25, Rep. Mickey Dollens plans to introduce legislation to expand the Affordable Housing Tax Credit to 3D printed homes. Several other states already allow the construction of 3D printed homes, Alper Real Estate Group told the Oklahoma Voice.
The obvious advantages of 3D printed homes are that they can be built quickly and inexpensively, and elements of the design can even be customized to address the severe weather risks that exist in Oklahoma.
The disadvantages include the fact that this is a new technology that can lead to design defects in homes. There are also concerns that automating more jobs could lead to both a decline in quality and the layoff of more skilled workers.
Dollens tried to calm some of those nerves. According to FOX 25, he said: “The last thing we want to do is replace more workers with automation. But we will still need skilled workers to do the plumbing, do the flooring and provide the electricity.”
One aspect of Oklahoma's growing affordable housing crisis that appears to have gone unmentioned in coverage of the 3D-printed home proposal is that Oklahoma has no statewide rent control laws and fundamentally no legal protections for renters.
According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, Oklahoma is “one of six states without tenant protections from retaliation by malicious landlords” and has one of the shortest eviction timelines in the country, which “[contributes] to housing instability [where] Tenants can go from making a late rent payment to being evicted from their apartment in less than two weeks.”
Unsurprisingly, this has led to numerous evictions of low-income renters, and it's not at all clear that cheap, 3D-printed houses could even solve this problem.
As long as Oklahoma has laws actively hostile to its poorest citizens, it seems inevitable that those citizens will continue to suffer on their behalf.
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