Mountain View, CA, August 18th, 2008.

Despite the recent downturn in real estate, the cost of a new home in many parts of the country remains beyond the reach of many people.  For example, the median home price in the San Francisco Bay area hovers around half a million dollars. The Seasteading Institute, a new non-profit (*) based in Mountain View, CA hopes to reduce housing costs in a unique fashion -- by promoting the colonization of the oceans.

"Building houses in the U.S. is heavily regulated, so the supply of new housing grows very slowly.  As a result, the price of housing remains high." said Seasteading Institute founder Patri Friedman.  A study by University of Washington economics professor Theo Eicher found that between 1989 and 2006, the median inflation-adjusted price of a Seattle house more than doubled from $221,000 to $447,800.  According to that study, fully $200,000 of that increase was the result of land-use regulations.

"There is plenty of room on the ocean, and by building there we can avoid the costs imposed by zoning and land-use regulation.  Seasteads can be built anywhere in the world, then towed into place, so we can save costs by hiring third-world labor, while benefiting poor countries.  Floating homes are also protected against rising oceans from global warming."

Mountain View, CA, August 18th, 2008.

If the Seasteading Institute has its way, you will soon be able to relocate your house--or even your entire town--as easily as you move your car.  

"We are going to build permanent floating settlements on the ocean.  The first prototype will likely be built in the sheltered waters of the San Francisco Bay, but future designs will be capable of withstanding open ocean conditions." says Patri Friedman, founder of the Mountain View based non-profit.  The Institute recently received some substantial backing for their approach, in the form of a $500,000 grant from Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel. 

Unlike some past projects which envisioned enormous, multi-billion dollar cities, The Seasteading Institute advocates a modular, incremental approach, where cities are built up one block, or even one house, at a time.  Patri says: "Cruise ships already demonstrate that people can live on the ocean in big, movable buildings at reasonable cost.  We've got a slightly different design: we're going to build a city out of interconnected floating platforms.  That way you'll be able to move cities, and take your house and yard with you!  And we are designing these platforms to be comparable in cost to high-end land-based homes."

Organization Aims To Create New Societies On The Ocean

Mountain View, CA, April 15th, 2008.

The Seasteading Institute today announced that it has been established in order to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems.  It will continue and expand on the work of Patri Friedman and Wayne Gramlich, authors of "Seasteading: A Practical Guide to Homesteading the High Seas".