Chartered State of Combria
The Remikran housing system that is recognizable today had its origins with the establishment of the Chartered State of Combria in 1086. Shortly thereafter, the nation of Combria established the Combria Department of Housing, which received partial funding from the Remikran Union. Under the Combrian housing program. Residency at each house or living space was proven by a deed (for a single-family home) or a mutual deed (for a multi-family home). Those living at a particular residence but are not directly named in a particular deed were termed Base Tenants, who would pay five percent of their income every year toward an estate tax (estate being any given plot of houses or living units, publicly managed), put in place to fund basic maintenance and needs. The resident of a living space whose name was on the deed was termed a Deedholder, who would also pay five percent of income toward the said estate tax and had the authority to call upon the Housing Department or their local Housing Office to authorize renovations or home improvements. The Department would then bill the Deedholder after completion of such renovations.
In the event of moving, the deed would be sent to the local Housing Office, which would facilitate the signing of said deed by the tenants moving into said house. Meanwhile, the tenants moving would travel to the Housing Office of the place they were moving into and sign the deed, after which their residency would begin.
In the event of inheritance or succession, the Deedholder's will or "terms of inheritance" would always take precedent in deciding the next Deedholder in the family. In the absence of such, the matter of succession of the deed would be decided by a Housing Office Public Arbitrator.
Houses built mostly throughout the region of Combria between the years 1080 and 1160 were houses of the Combrian Era. For the working class, living quarters in this era were mostly brick apartments built by traditional means. Middle-class homes were wooden single-family houses, also built through traditional means. And wealthy-class residences, also traditionally built, stood as brick single-family mansions. Common issues with these homes were constant utility breaks after about 50 years with the working-class homes, constant utility breaks plus wall and ceiling renovation needs after about 70 years with middle-class homes, and window replacement needs after about 100 years with the wealthy-class homes.
With civil conflict within Combria from the mid-1160s to the mid-1180s came considerable demand for shelters, and later on homes, being built with materials that were more durable and facilitated quicker building.
Thus brought around the Ereautean Era houses, which were constructed throughout the regions of Combria and Ereautea between the years 1160 and 1225. Such homes consisted of apartment complexes built of a mix of synthetic wood and concrete brick materials, built through traditional means for the working class; single-family houses built in the same fashion with the same materials for the middle class; and mansions built with more durable synthetic concrete bricks through traditional means for the wealthy class. Constant utility breaks were the norm for working-class living spaces 60 years after construction and for middle-class living spaces after about 75 years. Window replacements of wealthy homes of this era were in common need 125 years after construction.
Conferences held between Combria and other Remikran Union member-nations over re-zoning of land, movement of government seats, and accommodation needs for a booming population led to a call for homes to be built more quickly through the home manufacturing industry, giving rise to pre-built homes. This heralded the beginning of the Remikran Expansion Era, during which homes were built between 1225 and 1265 throughout the regions of Combria, Ereautea, Nintel, Gymia, Zyrtin, and Layda. Working-class homes of this era existed in the form of manufactured multi-family houses made of synthetic materials; middle-class homes existed as manufactured single-family houses made of synthetic materials; and wealthy-class homes existed as mansions still built through traditional means with durable concrete and a variety of other materials.
With this era came the fall of the Chartered State of Combria and the rise of the Federal Estates of Retun (the Early Retunian Republic).
Federal Estates of Retun
With the establishment of the Federal Estates of Retun came a new housing system initiated through the passage of the Free Housing Act via popular referendum in the year 1243. This new housing system bore a strong resemblance to the one under the nation of Combria, especially in the initial construction of housing units. However, the Free Housing Act allowed for deed transfers, inheritances, and successions to be done solely between the involved parties or in the presence of a private arbitrator; the Retunian Department of Housing and its Public Housing Offices were not required to be involved. Also under the Free Housing Act, the Deedholder was now allowed to make investments directly toward renovation contractors without involving the Housing Department or its Offices.
West Horizon, Inc., established in 1264, developed a home-manufacturing apparatus involving lightfire, designed to make house production speedier and more efficient. This brought about the Early Retunian Era of housing, which saw the construction of homes between 1265 and 1305 throughout the regions of Combria, Ereautea, Nintel, Gymia, Zyrtin, Layda, Chemko, Pimdan, the Mid-Westerlies Territories, and the Meredythian Isles Territories. This lightfire apparatus, constructed with even more durable synthetic materials, manufactured multi-family houses for the working class and single-family houses for the middle class. Lightfire-based house manufacturing also built durable concrete single-family mansions for the wealthy. Insulation wear-and-tear was a common issue in working-class homes 50 years after construction, in middle-class homes about 60 years after construction, while wealthy-class homes had to repair cracks in concrete about 150 years after construction.
Such issues, however, were dwarfed by the consequences of rental adjustment fees. In 1261, Prime Minister Edward Jackson signed into law an amendment to the Free Housing Act. Referred to as the Privacy Extension Clause, this amendment allowed for banks and businesses to buy and trade residential estates. Per consent of either the common population or leadership of said estate, the bank or business was allowed to purchase a share or entirety of said estate, thus gaining decision-making power over the maintenance/upkeep, renovations, or expansions of estate jurisdiction in order to add value and sell the estate for financial profit. Aside from property maintenance, expansion, and renovations, the people would still retain the legal and constitutional rights from before.
To offset such costs of maintenance, renovation, and expansion, the business and bank owners of each particular estate had a right to add a fee to each tenant's yearly tax bill known as a rental adjustment fee. These fees were initially capped at 7.5 percent of each tenant's annual income. However, in 1277, after a period of economic strain for the banks, this cap was raised to 10 percent of yearly income. It was then raised to 15 percent in 1282 and 20 percent in 1287. In 1292, it was raised again to 30 percent, sparking nationwide protests from the Retunian population. Promising to lower the cap helped Progressive candidate John "Red" Waltmann win the 1296 Prime Minister election, after which he attempted to follow through on that promise. Initially, Waltmann pushed for the cap to be lowered to 15 percent; however, after lobbying from the banking industry, Waltmann and the Retunian Council settled on lowering the cap to 25 percent. As a further act of compromise, Prime Minister Waltmann signed an emergency clause to be added to the Fair Housing Act, allowing temporary increases to the cap in the event of an economic crisis.
The tradestone markets of the Retunian Republic crashed in 1301, beginning nearly a decade of economic decline. Feeling the resulting financial strains, the banks raised the rental adjustment fee caps to 27.5 percent of per capita personal income in 1303, 30 percent in 1304, 32.5 percent in 1305, 35 percent in 1306, 37.5 percent in 1307, and finally to 40 percent of annual income in 1308. With this being in addition to 5 percent taxes paid to the estate, 5 percent to the county, 5 percent to the province, and 5 percent to the federal government, this rental fee adjustment brought the total tax bill to a staggering 65 percent of annual income.
Both the financial crash of the early 1300s and migratory needs of Ancondria, of which the Retunian Republic recently gained a large share of territory, led to increased demand for compact mobile homes, thus giving rise to the Modern Retunian Era of housing. Working-class homes of this era consisted of lightfire-manufactured, metal-clad "pods" with various synthetic materials on the inside. Middle-class homes, bearing a strong resemblance to working-class homes, consisted of the same kind of pods but could link up with each other, while their interiors could be altered to the homeowner's preferences, inspired by Ancondrian passenger lorries. Meanwhile, wealthy-class homes consisted of lightfire-manufactured synthetic-stone single-family mansions. These types of homes were built throughout the Retunian Republic and its overseas territories between 1305 and 1380.
Independent Commonwealth State of Retun
With changes in housing style came political changes. In 1309, Holz Finzi and his followers within the Darkfire Community took power in the Retunian Republic, legitimized after a special election in 1310. Shortly thereafter, in 1311, Finzi passed the Equal Housing Act, which abolished the private ownership of residential estates by businesses and banks, as well as abolished the rental adjustment fees.
There was a push for more regulations on the housing industry in the 1310s. The housing industry in the years leading up to 1310 had heavily damaged the natural environments and ecosystems of Middle Remikra, the Chemkan Valley being the most notorious example. Also, between 1301 and 1309, wealthy investors who benefited from the disastrous loan liquidations acquired large portions of residential estates and converted them into private residences with super mansions.
Peter Umbol, a Representative in the Retunian Council on behalf of the Province of Ereautea, proposed an amendment for "super-cantons" to be constructed for the provision of residential space designated in a fair manner, an amendment for the demolition of houses outside the super-cantons, and an amendment for a nationwide effort to restore the natural environment. These proposals, however, were rejected by Finzi and a majority of the Council due to costs, conflicts with family wills and terms of inheritance, and conflicts of interest over passive income from established properties connected to darkfire quarries.
Thus, the Equal Housing Act passed without Umbol's amendments. However, the Act was amended to provide additional retirement benefits to tenants and deedholders who invest in long-term home improvements, especially those that are environmentally friendly. The deedholder still had the sole decision-making power on such renovations, but all tenants would receive retirement credit. This created the incentive for the person with the highest income, rather than traditionally the oldest person, to be assigned the deedholder. Furthermore, with all tenants of a particular household, other than those mentioned previously, deemed equal owners, such improvements would benefit them as well as future tenants of the household. Though the policy was well-intentioned, it would be the very same policy used by the Esurchians in order to construe finances to their personal benefit.
Throughout the 1340s and 1350s, the Gyrosakian Kingdom grew into a global economic powerhouse, as Gyrosakian corporations turned into global enterprises. By the late 1350s, a mere handful of corporations began buying large stakes in various industries, turning them into near-monopolies. As a result, prices around the world began to rise dramatically for various goods. The economy of Recastelaren was, infamously, impacted by this, leading the Kingdom of the Great North to discharge it as a territory in 1354. This also affected the economy of the Retunian Commonwealth, as manufacturing supplies and construction equipment became more expensive to purchase and use. Thus, housing renovations became more expensive, putting a strain on the retirement benefit policy under the Equal Housing Act.
In 1357, Prime Minister Raol Robinson signed into law, after a budget reconciliation measure in the Retunian Council, an amendment to the Equal Housing Act, a limit on the extra retirement benefits awarded to those who invested in renovations. This was a very unpopular measure, but no other option was available for the government or the economy.
The Esurchian Occupation
When trade figures from the Esurchian State arrived in the Retunian Commonwealth in 1359, they sought to attain and capitalize on residential lands based on their high value (despite the move being illegal under Retunian law). In response to the contempt expressed by Retunian citizens toward the measure signed by Prime Minister Robinson in 1357, the Esurchians crafted an agenda that presented an appealing solution to popular woes. Initially, they engaged in business talk, primarily about deep-trade, with Retunian homedwellers while staying overnight in their homes. Along with such subjects, Esurchians also raised issues of educational enlightenment and other topics of inspiration. Before long, these Esurchian representatives convinced Retunian deedholders to allow them to stay as long-term guests for a regular fee. Seeing the extra income from Esurchian guests, deedholders were then persuaded to allow these Esurchians to become base tenants, during which they would pay estate tax bills like everyone else. Up to this point, the Esurchian guests would hear about deedholders' woes amid the inflated economy and the limitations on renovation-based retirement bonuses. To this, the Esurchians responded with offers to authorize and pay for the renovations while supplementing retirement bonuses to offset the limitations imposed by the 1357 measure; to do this, however, the Esurchians told their hosts they would need to have deedholder powers transferred to them. Many deedholders agreed to this, and by the end of 1359, a large number of Esurchians had their deeds transferred to them.
Instead of doing as they promised, however, those Esurchians with deeds began engaging in their illegal trade agendas, slighting Retunian tenants in the process. Said Retunian tenants were left with limited options against this, however, since the Esurchians were now the deedholders. With the Retunian government effectively incapacitated at this point, Esurchian deedholders began bartering residential lands for trade value, evicting the original Retunian tenants in the process. These displaced tenants migrated to encampments, while others formed resistance militias. Some of these resistance militias succeeded in taking back Retunian residential estates, but a majority of them failed, resulting in encampments being raided by Esurchian Scouts and some of its inhabitants being massacred.
Numerous Retunian underground agendas were in action by this point, however, achieving such aims as effective resistance against the Esurchian infiltrators as well as emigration to the Kingdom of the Great North. Most notably, a special underground network underpinned the Retunian government's integrity, preventing it from becoming completely overcome despite the shortcomings caused by the Esurchians. In March 1362, a special task force rescued Prime Minister Robinson, who had been effectively imprisoned in the state house of the Esurchian State, and brought him back to the Retunian Capital. Shortly after his return, Prime Minister Robinson issued an order to deport all Esurchians within the jurisdiction of the Retunian Commonwealth, the largest deportation order in history. This would lead to the Esurchian War, which was costly for the Retunian Commonwealth but eventually resulted in the defeat and fall of the Esurchian State.
After the Esurchian Occupation
Though Esurchian influence and infiltration came to an end in March 1362, it would be years, even decades, before the Retunian housing system returned to normal. Primarily, there emerged a very large backlog of deed reversals needing to be processed, resulting in a large number of applications needing to be processed for provisional deeds, temporary deeds issued to house tenants while the actual deed of a living space is being worked on in a court of law or office of arbitration (usually issued if there was a dispute). The most notable inconvenience of a provisional deed was that it was subject to certain kinds of changes, such as mandatory residential relocations ordered by the government based on housing needs. Furthermore, Provisional Deed Offices across the nation had never been established in anticipation of the sheer volume of deed reversals that needed to be processed as a result of the Esurchian Occupation. Temporary workers were hired to expedite the issuance of provisional deeds and deed reversals. But for the latter, the wait time continued to be measured in decades. The bulk of deed reversals would be finalized by 1373, but some with more complex disputes would drag out over many years to follow. The very last Esurchian-related deed reversal dispute would not be resolved until the year 1491, after legal expertise from Sayleronian representatives.
In the early 1370s, the frustrating deed reversal wait times led to an increased demand for new housing; some Retunians had decided that they wanted to start anew in terms of home ownership for the purpose of securing housing arrangements. This led to division within the RAD Party in the Retunian Council over a proposed measure for expanded housing. The leftmost wing of the RAD Party, later breaking away to form the Proculturalist Party, supported a nationwide expansion of housing, though there was internal division within the Proculturalists. Half of the Proculturalists supported the revival of an idea proposed by Peter Umbol, long dead by this point, for super-cantons to be built and housing outside of these to be demolished. The other side of the Proculturalists advocated instead for a massive expansion of property zoning for traditional residential estates. The side supporting Peter Umbol blocked such zoning expansions, however, citing environmental impacts.
Meanwhile, the right-leaning side of the RAD Party formed a coalition with the Realist Party to back the idea of leaving it up to each municipality to expand housing as needed, as has been done up to this point. Citing costs that were already straining the Retunian Treasury from the Esurchian War, this conjoined faction blocked every housing expansion measure proposed by the Proculturalists. Thus, between 1362 and 1374, every measure proposed in the Retunian Council regarding housing failed to pass.
In 1374, however, Meghan Wen of the Proculturalist Party won the election for Retunian Prime Minister while her Party attained a majority in Council.
Prime Minister Meghan Wen and the Fair Standard Housing Act
In March 1381, after it passed the Retunian Council, Prime Minister Wen signed into law the Fair Standard Housing Act, or FSHA, which authorized the nationwide construction of residential super-cantons. This led to a rise in living standards; though they were fair before, this was still an improvement. A large part of this Act, however, was for super-cantons to be built in five Stages, each Stage replacing or supplementing houses of one of the five Eras. Stage One, constructing super-cantons to replace or supplement Combria-Era houses, was anticipated to take place between 02 March 1386 and 02 November 1390; Stage Two, constructing super-cantons to replace or supplement Ereautean-Era homes, was anticipated to take place between 02 March 1391 and 02 November 1395; Stage Three, constructing super-cantons to replace or supplement Remikran-Expansion-Era houses, was anticipated to take place between 02 March 1396 and 02 November 1400; Stage Four, constructing super-cantons to replace or supplement Early-Retunian-Era homes, was anticipated to take place between 02 March 1401 and 02 November 1405; and Stage Five, constructing super-cantons to replace or supplement Modern-Retunian-Era houses, was anticipated to take place between 02 March 1406 and 02 November 1410. Afterward, five-year renovations would occur on each Stage of super-cantons on a rotating basis, in the order in which each Stage was constructed.
Under Prime Minister Meghan Wen's tenure, in accordance with the Act, the Retunian Council approved Stages I, II, and III to proceed as scheduled. However, in 1398, James Lawrence Kontacet of the Reformed RAD Party won the 1398 election. Upon taking office in 1399, with a primary agenda to maximize funding for the Library of Circlaria, Kontacet signed a budget reconciliation measure to pause the FSHA agenda to take effect after the completion of Stage III in 1400. Kontacet was defeated by Vet Silonk of the Realist Party in 1404. Silonk, however, continued the pause on FSHA.
Stanley Arland Moore, having won the Prime Minister election in 1416 as a member of the Trader Party, made a promise to revive the FSHA. And in 1417, he acted on it; however, the Retunian Council failed to pass the measure lifting the pause that year. In 1420, Moore pushed for the revival of FSHA once again. The effort passed Council that year, being signed into law by the Prime Minister, and Stage Four took place between 02 March 1426 and 02 November 1430.
Mary Anne Heits of the Proculturalist Party defeated Moore in the Prime Minister election of 1428. Under her leadership, the Retunian Council, in 1429, approved Stage Five of the FSHA to take place between 02 March 1431 and 02 November 1435, which was signed into law by Heits shortly thereafter. Stage Five began as scheduled. However, on 06 May 1431, Stage Five was abruptly put on an indefinite pause due to the emerging global CAD Virus Pandemic. In 1443, vaccines for this Virus became available in the Retunian Commonwealth. The Retunian Council, in 1444, approved Stage Five to resume on 02 March 1446, with time added for necessary rebuilding, extending the anticipated end date of Stage Five to 28 May 1453. By that date, Cara Mackwell, having won the Prime Minister election in 1452 after being endorsed by Heits, had begun her tenure.
With all five Stages finally completed came the responsibility for overseeing the cycle of super-canton renovations to follow. Despite Prime Minister Cara Mackwell's efforts, the Retunian Council failed to approve Renovation One, the renovation of the super-cantons of Stage One, due to costs arising from a global economy dominated by the Gyrosakian Kingdom. After numerous cycles of budget reconciliation, however, the Retunian Council in 1459 approved for Renovation One to take place between 02 March 1461 and 02 November 1465. This was followed by the successful implementation of Renovation II between 02 March 1471 and 02 November 1475.
After Prime Minister Mackwell's retirement came the election of John Dickens, who took office in 1477. During his tenure, Renovation Three took place between 02 March 1481 and 02 November 1485. Salonmae Rickardson became Prime Minister in 1489, overseeing Renovation Four between 02 March 1491 and 02 November 1495.
Rickardson would be defeated and succeeded by Nara Faye Morrison in 1494. Beginning her tenure as Prime Minister in 1495, Morrison attempted to push for the implementation of Renovation Five. However, the Retunian Council would never pass such a measure due to the continued inflation costs. In 1499, however, Morrison signed into law a measure approved by the Council in consolation for block grants to be given to each super-canton nationwide to help with locally approved renovation projects.
Post-Commonwealth
In 1503, the Retunian Commonwealth ceased to exist, its lands being partitioned into the Republics of Maerna, Alyna, Hanoria, Varea, and Arevea. Though the transfers of power were peaceful, the change left the Renovations under the FSHA in limbo indefinitely. Each of the five new governments preserved the block grant policy signed by former Prime Minister Morrison, however, and there have since been ongoing conferences between the five Republics as well as the Sayleronian Maritime State to form a coordinated mass-renovated and expansion project in the future.