My people don't build houses

[Zergyt]

Hi! My people don't build houses, because of this new people don't come. The area is well ennobled, contentment is at a height, but houses are not being built. Help

[Zergyt]

Не строятся дома. Люди не приходят.

Привет! Мои люди не строят дома, из-за этого новые люди не приходят. Зона облагорожена хорошо, довольство на высоте, но дома не строят. Помогите

[Minotorious]

Please post a screenshot so we can see exactly what you are looking at :)

[mikamurakaoru]

You must not promote ALL of your populations to commoner, you must leave some serfs in your pops to build a new house.

[Pops]

commoners will build lev 2 houses straight up as long as the necessary conditions are met for the houses and villager

[ZeroKarma]

This is a poorly explained part of the game. It has taken me a long time to realise what is happening with housing. Houses can only be built by serfs. They will build a density 1 then upgrade to density 2, 2 people then 6 occupancy. anyone above that will not build.
Insufficient housing? Yeah, get used to seeing that. I used to promote straight away but found out that they wont build. Then if a house had evolved to lvl 2, the serfs wont move in. But they won't build a new house because there are slots available in other houses but wont live there.
All of this on top of the nebulous zone area. I plop down a blob, three houses all stack on top of each other in the edge somewhere then no other houses want to go in because it thinks all the space is taken. Even though they are happy to stack inside of each other and clump, they also apparently need half the map each to initiate spawn. And don't get me started on roads and how even the slightest path (walked across once) will stop any housing growing near it.
I was clear cutting areas before zoning and found out the hard way if there are any paths they restrict building. Now I try to build in dense forest that restricts pathing and gradually expand the blob into the area. Its painful.

[Admiral_Junno]

it might also be that your people are simply too far away from where their work sites are. they will refuse to build houses far away from their work. you need several small towns, not just one big metropolis.

[TECHNOMANCER]

Originally posted by ZeroKarma:

This is a poorly explained part of the game. It has taken me a long time to realise what is happening with housing. Houses can only be built by serfs. They will build a density 1 then upgrade to density 2, 2 people then 6 occupancy. anyone above that will not build.
Insufficient housing? Yeah, get used to seeing that. I used to promote straight away but found out that they wont build. Then if a house had evolved to lvl 2, the serfs wont move in. But they won't build a new house because there are slots available in other houses but wont live there.
All of this on top of the nebulous zone area. I plop down a blob, three houses all stack on top of each other in the edge somewhere then no other houses want to go in because it thinks all the space is taken. Even though they are happy to stack inside of each other and clump, they also apparently need half the map each to initiate spawn. And don't get me started on roads and how even the slightest path (walked across once) will stop any housing growing near it.
I was clear cutting areas before zoning and found out the hard way if there are any paths they restrict building. Now I try to build in dense forest that restricts pathing and gradually expand the blob into the area. Its painful.

This ^^^^

Just figured it out myself....


... in other words, bad game design.

[Minotorious]

That is actually partly incorrect, to clarify:

• Serfs will always build lvl 1 houses in open areas regardless of open spot in lvl 2 houses.
  
• If a Serf is promoted to a Commoner and their house meets the High-Very High desirability criteria they will upgrade that house to lvl 2 kicking any non-Commoners out from it.
  
• Commoners who lack a house, i.e. cannot upgrade their existing one, will after a few needs cycles be kicked out of their current house and seek a spot in any existing lvl 2 houses or build a lvl 2 house directly in an open area that meets the High-Very High desirability condition.
  
• Houses cannot be build on top of existing roads but only next to them.
  
• The housing system, which in the future will indicate more clearly where and how many houses fit in painted areas, is sometimes quite picky about placements. My recommendation here is to always paint as big residential areas as possible to allow it the freedom to do its thing, i.e. don't try to restrict it too much.

Hope this helps. If you have further issues please share a few screenshots or the save file itself and we are always happy to take a look and advice you further :)

[Pico 22]

Originally posted by Minotorious:

That is actually partly incorrect, to clarify:

• Serfs will always build lvl 1 houses in open areas regardless of open spot in lvl 2 houses.
  
• If a Serf is promoted to a Commoner and their house meets the High-Very High desirability criteria they will upgrade that house to lvl 2 kicking any non-Commoners out from it.
  
• Commoners who lack a house, i.e. cannot upgrade their existing one, will after a few needs cycles be kicked out of their current house and seek a spot in any existing lvl 2 houses or build a lvl 2 house directly in an open area that meets the High-Very High desirability condition.
  
• Houses cannot be build on top of existing roads but only next to them.
  
• The housing system, which in the future will indicate more clearly where and how many houses fit in painted areas, is sometimes quite picky about placements. My recommendation here is to always paint as big residential areas as possible to allow it the freedom to do its thing, i.e. don't try to restrict it too much.

Hope this helps. If you have further issues please share a few screenshots or the save file itself and we are always happy to take a look and advice you further :)

A very good explanation, but it should not be only here - it should be in the tutorial.

[Kibeth]

I missed the part where Commoners would upgrade their existing house, and was turning new arrivals into Commoners before they were housed, and then they wouldn't build houses because the Very High desirability areas were already occupied. Thank you for the clarity!

[picibum]

and also they wont build house on area where it was demolished before. this is very strange as I need that area to be rebuild with different houses. please allow players to build individual house