Critical thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Critical thinking - Essay Example affordable housing is housing where there is an intervention in the market through public subsidy† (2005, p.22).Other terms such as subsidized housing, attainable housing, and low-income housing can be used to mean affordable housing (Cowan, 2008). In recent years, the cost of property has grown more rapidly than incomes making it presently impossible for low and middle income earners to afford reasonable properties. First time buyers also form the group of people that is losing the most for lack of affordable housing (Whitfield, 2012). Due to this, some people have to search around for more affordable property in other areas. Sassi points out that â€Å"in the UK there is a deficit of between 30,000 and 45,000 affordable housing units being built each year† (2012, p.66). People working in high property value areas such as the South East and London are usually affected by the high prices of property. There is need for more affordable housing units to accommodate the needs of everyone, since even while housing benefits can reduce the burden that comes with housing for low income earners, the number of people in need of affordable housing is too big to be catered for through the housing benefits. The UK government has been investigating different approaches to increase the number of affordable housing, as well as planning on prefabricating parts and sometimes entire buildings to create room for more occupants. According to Sassi â€Å"prefabrication offers a good potential for creating energy-efficient housing by integrating higher levels of insulation in new construction systems† (2012, p.66). Prefabrication may be done on-site or off-site. However, off-site prefabrication carries more benefits over on-site fabrication since, in off-site fabrication manufacturing waste is reduced, while factory construction addresses the problem on construction skills shortage which is abound in the UK. In the United Kingdom, more than half of affordable housing is achieved