Close-in housing

[BenevolentDictator]

I have read a lot of posts saying that it is of benefit to build lodgings near docks and such.  My experience has been that unless I build a massive housing complex such as a tenement, the in-close housing is taken up by every sort of people BUT dockworkers (e.g. country houses, normal houses, etc).  

Also, I have seen that sometimes when I have two seperate population centers, a lot of Tropicans will choose to live in one city and commute to the other walking miles and miles!  Is there anyway to prevent this from happening?!

[Eddy]

You can try evicting the people and hopefully forcing them into the closer housing to their work, but it is difficult.  This is one of the game's shortcomings I fear.

[Blackrook]

It is possible, but difficult to effect Tropican's housing.  If you want to move a highly paid worker to better housing, set the rent of the new home high enough so that only he can afford it.  Evict him and then he will usually go there if it is the best home available.

Sometimes you want your workers close to their work. The best way to accomplish this is to pause the game and evict everyone near the workplace that doesn't work there.  Then evict all the workers who you want to move there.  People will usually end up in the right place because they choose housing most convenient to them.  

Sometimes you have a married couple who have jobs in in very far away places from each other. In that case there isn't much you can do to improve the situation for the worker that lives far away.

Last game I built mostly country houses.  I find that bunkhouses don't really make people much happier than a shack.  Tenements don't help much either.  Apartments are good but they are very expensive and take a long time to build if there is uneven terrain.  Apartments should only be built in high density areas, otherwise you'll end up with lots of vacancies no matter how low the rent.  Houses are too expensive for what you get until later in the game when you need to please higher paid workers. In the early game country houses are a deal at $450 and people seem satisfied with them.

[Eddy]

I actually like the bunkhouses.  They aren't great, but they are a big step up from the shacks, usually 25 quality as opposed to 8 for a shack.  Three times better.  They are very cheap and quick to build, plus they take up the smallest amount of room.  In the beginning of the game, I like to use them for a quick fix.  I rarely bother with tenements.  Sure they hold lots of people, but for only a little more, you can have an apartment which is a bit nicer.  I sometimes use them for the freeloaders, and have no rent and roach patrol.

I've found that the people just want some sort of housing that is better than a shack.  The communists always love me because I try to ensure that all people have housing.

[caddet]

Somewhere else on the board, someone addressed the issue of getting people to live closer to work.  When you have more than enough housing for your workers, raise all the rents to the maximum.  Everyone will move out, since they can't afford those rents.  Then, set the rent back to where it belongs.  People will move into the housing that best suits their income and where they work.  That's pretty close to what Blackrook suggested, but it takes care of everyone all at once.  I haven't tried this yet.  I'm afraid that everyone will move out and build shacks all over the place!

[blackdog]

Good points all of you guys, i find the country houses the best early in the game. Building them really close and 20 or so at a time is a good way of building housing. Demolishing the shacks is harsh but it is fast way of moving people into tenements or houses. Build the dockworkers houses practically on top of the docks and they will move in. Hope this helps anyone

[Sleeping_Dragon]

One thing I would be concerned about with 'en mass' rent raising and evicting is it's effect on happiness.  Not sure how big of an effect it is but it's bound to have some.  I'd suggest if you do the 'en mass' thing you do it right AFTER an election so you will have time to offset whatever the effect is before the next one comes around.  I have limited myself to doing it only in 'must do' situations and then only with a few indivdual families.   Once the effects of eviction are better explained somewhere I may try it out mass evictions.

[caddet]

Not only after an election, but after saving.  That way, you can always re-load if the effects are too drastic!

[Eddy]

Of course my opinion is that the people will be CONTENTO if the government helps them find a more convenient house to live in.

[eincan]

For the life of me, I can't get people in the proper housing.  I have tried everything from evictions to mass rent raising and then reducing.  I have a population of around 100.

My soldiers will not leave the bunkhouses and move into the empty 1k houses I built for them near the palace and my lumberjacks persist to live in town even though I have country homes and a marketplace right near the logging camp (great money maker).

Any suggestions.

[caddet]

There is at least one other thing you need to consider.  If the soldier's wife works far enough away from the new house, they won't want to move.  Check where the spouse works, and try to place the soldier's new house on that side of the palace.  The same would apply to your lumberjack.  If his wife is a construction worker out of a construction office on the dock side of town, she won't want to move "out to the sticks".

So it gets more complicated.  You not only need housing and services at each area of your island, you also need jobs for the spouses.  That kind of problem is going to keep this game "new" for a long time.

[Coconut Kid]

There is at least one other thing you need to consider.  If the soldier's wife works far enough away from the new house, they won't want to move.  Check where the spouse works, and try to place the soldier's new house on that side of the palace.  The same would apply to your lumberjack.  If his wife is a construction worker out of a construction office on the dock side of town, she won't want to move "out to the sticks". ...

That is NOT correct.

In the Tropican world, the male spouse chooses the house. The female spouse walks far to work and probably doesn't like the job for that reason.

Eincan left out some information needed to understand his problem.