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Business Review: Living Small

Sleek, high tech and affordable micro housing in downtown metro areas is poised to disrupt the urban housing market, which hasn't changed in over 150 years. 

 

Dr. Jeff Wilson knows a thing or two about downsizing. As a social experiment, the CEO of startup Kasita, lived in a 33 square foot dumpster for a year.

“I was lying in the dumpster one night staring at the ceiling, and thought, ‘What is most surprising 

about this experiment?’ The most surprising thing was my life was actually better. I owned my stuff. It didn’t own me. I had a lot more disposable income.”

He recognized micro-homes could revitalize downtown living.

“I wanted a mass manufacture-able, beautiful, affordable iPhone you could live in.”

Rather than an architect, Wilson chose a product designer to reimagine a chic, modern small house.

“Kasita is a revolution, not only how we think about a home, but how we think about the general real estate industry.”

Kasita flips the way real estate has been viewed for over 150 years and is well-positioned to disrupt the urban housing market.  The 320 square foot, hi-tech tiny home runs about $600 a month when financed.  The micro-unit moves with the homeowner.  Kasita units slide into super structure steel “racks”… and can be removed, then installed with relative ease in a new city.

“It’s our core belief at KASITA that attainable, beautiful housing with dignity is a human right.”

The Business Review is a production of KWBU, Livingston McKay, and the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University.

C.J. Jackson drives on sunshine and thrives on family, NPR and PBS. She is the assistant dean of communications and marketing at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business and host of public radio’s “Business Review.” Previously, she was director of marketing communications for a large, multinational corporation. C.J. has two daughters—Bri in San Antonio and Devon in Chicago—and four grandchildren. She lives with a little yellow cat named for an ancient Hawaiian tripping weapon.