Calling the high cost of affordable housing the “single biggest obstacle to making Vancouver a more livable city,” Vancouver, British Columbia’s Mayor Gregor Robinson set up a competition to garner ideas for solutions, the Vancouver Sun tells MHProNews.com. The Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability received 68 entries, including drawings from Turkey, New York, Ireland, and the Netherlands as well as from local designers and architects. The designs vary from modular units with gardens on the roofs—”Make the roof pay for the house”–to floating apartment complexes, recycled shipping containers, and a castle-like compound. Green roofs, solar panels for energy, and pod-like housing were common themes. The proposals are on display for public viewing. A jury will decide the winning entry later this month.

(Image credit: www.rethinkinghousing.ca/, Vancouver Sun)