Types of housing

Housing is understood as buildings and/or places adapted so that people can live. These fulfill the function of providing protection against the weather and the elements, allowing people to inhabit them, protecting themselves from the wind, rain, sun, water, animals, etc.

In general, housing is understood to be buildings built expressly for this purpose, although historically they can also be natural places adapted for it, as is the case of caves, caverns and even tree trunks (such as the baobabs in Africa). Thus, places that have not been built for it can also be counted as housing, but that for one reason or another of necessity provide the housing service on a temporary basis, almost always irregularly and/or occasionally, in the case of bridges, sewers , and factory buildings, abandoned train or subway stations, overpasses, etc.

A large part of the daily activities of individuals and families take place in the home, so there are usually rooms adapted for different functions or needs, such as bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom/washbasin, and other rooms that vary depending on socioeconomic status. or that depend on the particular arrangement, such as living room, dining room, study, library, cloakroom, etc., that is, the various sections of the house that are intended for one or more more specified functions.

The types of housing can be classified according to various criteria, which can vary from the type of material they are built with, or whether they belong to the person who lives in them or if it is rental housing, by association with other housing, as well as by other factors.

Main types of housing:

Own dwelling.- These are all those dwellings that belong to oneself or to one’s family, it being understood that they are not leased to a third party or to a government authority. These may well be houses themselves, apartments, cabins, buildings or any type of construction that legally belongs to the person who lives in it or to his family, as would be the case, for example, that the house legally belongs to the father, being also the home of the parents. children, wife and other relatives.

Rent or rental housing.- these are those rooms in which it is necessary to pay rent or rent from time to time, living in someone else’s home but with the domain of the same that grants the rent of said rent, these can be houses, apartments or flats, as well as “rooms” in tenements or guest houses, the dwelling itself continues to belong to its legal owner, but the lessee or tenant has great freedom (domain), in the part that he rents (room, department, etc.).

Dwellings classified by age:

Old dwellings.- These are generally old constructions that, due to their architecture and antiquity, present various states of conservation or deterioration, but which may be habitable. These can include “poor” dwellings, but whose structure still remains, cabins, and even mansions or “mansions”, in different states of conservation, but which may be habitable.

New Homes.- These are those that are recently built, whether they are buildings such as apartment buildings or newly built houses. These are usually in optimal conditions, which is why they tend to acquire high prices in the real estate market, which depends both on the specific type of housing (apartment or house), as well as on the area in which it is located.

Second-hand housing.- These are houses, apartments, apartment buildings, etc., which have already been acquired and used by previous residents. This is the case, for example, of rental housing that is continuously leased to different people or families. It is highlighted that in terms of their monetary value they are usually less expensive than the new or old ones depending directly on the conditions in which they are found.

Housing Temporary housing.- Among these we can count both hotels, inns, pensions, motels, hostels and houses for rent, as well as temporary housing built by governments and social entities, for refugees due to disasters, wars or poverty (shelters) , as well as the temporary “houses” that are built or adapted by dispossessed people, with sheets, cardboard, or adapting places such as bridges, caverns and even sewers, where they live and spend the night temporarily.

Types of housing by the association of people living:

Family Housing.- These are those dwellings that belong to the whole family or in which relatives live (generally the closest ones). This can also be owned or rented, being inhabited by the nuclear family (father, mother, children), and commonly for reasons of necessity by the extended family, including siblings, uncles, cousins, grandparents, who have a “portion of habitat” within of the house.

Single Family Home.- These are houses or apartments inhabited by a single family or person, these usually have an obvious separation from the closest neighbors, for example by means of a patio or garden in the case of typical houses and cabins surrounded of a garden inhabited by a single family.

Collective Dwellings.- These are dwellings where there is coexistence with other individuals or families in a very close space, this is the case, for example, of apartment buildings, towers, multi-family houses and neighborhoods, where there are close neighbors either in the upper, lower or sides of the home itself, and where there are usually common spaces for neighbors, such as patios, roof terraces, etc.

Mobile.- These are those homes that can be moved because they are made up of a vehicle, which is the case of mobile homes.

Dwellings classified according to status or social position:

Mansion.- These are houses that are made up of a large construction, generally very luxurious, with various services. These usually cover large spaces (hundreds of meters, and even several hectares of extension), both in terms of the built work and in terms of gardens, pools, fountains and other accessory constructions.

Casona.- These are houses that consist of a large construction or mansion that has characteristics of both mansions, palaces and rustic houses. Built in elevated areas such as mountains and hills, these are usually old, most of which were built in the 17th and 18th centuries. They are solid constructions typical of Europe, although they were also built in European colonies, mainly in Latin America.

Middle-class and private homes.- Most of the houses that belong to a single person or family can be classified in this category, as well as the apartments or “flats”, this can be owned or rented, but that have the majority of the services and its construction is good, altogether allowing a comfortable life, although not luxurious.

Social assistance housing.-It is about those houses that are partially or completely provided (whether in their construction, remodeling or purchase), with the help of governmental social mechanisms. This type of housing is usually of two types, “communal” housing in multi-family apartment buildings, or private or single-family houses of a relatively small size, but with basic services. This type of housing is usually acquired by people with limited and medium resources (workers, day laborers, etc.). It is a type of housing that is usually promoted by government social programs, as well as by civil and union associations for the use and enjoyment of workers and their families. These are usually, in addition to small deficiencies in many aspects necessary for the ideal of a decent and decent home.

Irregular dwellings.- These, in turn, can be irregularly built houses or apartments or places occupied as such without being occupied, as in the case of bridges, slopes, subway or train stations, etc.)

Examples of houses according to their construction materials:

Although housing construction materials have varied over time, and in the vast majority of cases they are combined with each other, several types of housing are characterized by the use of a particular material.

Masonry dwellings.- Made of adobe, stone, brick, concrete or reinforced concrete.

Wood or straw houses.- Cabins, Californian type houses, Bareque, straw huts, reeds, branches, reeds or bamboo.

Mud or earth dwellings.- Among them we find the huts covered with mud, the houses built through the process of “tapia” or rammed earth, and those made of sun-dried adobes.

Ice.- These are both shelters (generally temporary), made with “packed” snow, and igloos made with blocks of ice.

Fabric or skins.- This type of housing is very old and is still used in places like Mongolia where yurts made with skins are built, as well as the tipis of American Indians also built with skins. Thus, there are also temporary homes such as “tents”, which are made with fabrics or synthetic materials.

Another way to classify houses according to materials is depending on the roof materials, the most common being reinforced concrete, wood, tiles, metal sheets, cardboard, fiberglass, plastic, and other materials.