Tiny House News

[timo2]

Cities are starting to allow zoning for Tiny Houses:
To become tiny-house-friendly, Walsenburg didn't just greenlight one subdivision. Last year, it became the first city in the state, and one of the first in the nation, to change its land use codes to allow tiny homes on any residential lot. They just have to be on a foundation, not a trailer - See more at: Walsenburg Has Big Hopes For Tiny Houses | CPR

http://www.cpr.org/news/story/walse...l&utm_campaign=FBCPR5964#sthash.MpS42xC0.dpuf

 

[Greencheese]

Interesting...

I do wonder if tiny homes are going to be attractive for future generations who haven't had time to accumulate lots of things.

 

[capjak]

Its getting more traction.

My Niece and her boyfriend quit their jobs, built a tiny house mostly using donated materials via advertising and spent a year traveling the US in it. They have been on HGTV and now he helps others build tiny houses and she has a blog . TINY HOUSE giant journey - Making North America our own backyard

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Tiny houses seem like a logical solution to help solve the lack of affordable housing in high priced metro areas.

The urban planner in Berkeley in the link below rents a tiny house in her backyard to two firefighters:

Berkeley's backyard tiny house helps with income, landscape - videos - *faircompanies

 

[Calico]

Its getting more traction.

My Niece and her boyfriend quit their jobs, built a tiny house mostly using donated materials via advertising and spent a year traveling the US in it. They have been on HGTV and now he helps others build tiny houses and she has a blog . TINY HOUSE giant journey - Making North America our own backyard

What a wonderful blog! Thanks for sharing. It looks like they had the time of their lives on the trip.

 

[Bamaman]

I've already got one tiny house--a fifth wheel camping trailer with 400 square feet.

Too bad they're not allowed to be setup within our city limits and are not commonly accepted as permanent housing.

It's not big enough for my stuff anyway.

 

[Dreaming of Freedom]

Our real house is only 864 SF, and it was originally 576 SF before they added on an indoor bathroom and modern kitchen. We do have a small partial basement though, and would really like a garage or shed. The bedrooms are quite small, but the rest of the house is pretty roomy and open. I don't think I would like anything larger than 1,200 SF even if I won $10 million in the lottery. There are lots of tiny shotgun-style houses in the older parts of town that are only 3-4 small rooms connected together and maybe 400SF max.

Racing for the FIRE finish line, but I don't know where it is.

 

[Dreaming of Freedom]

There is a Tiny House Collective in Kansas City, though they are not sure what all they are trying to accomplish at this point in time. I think KC, MO is trying to work with them.

Racing for the FIRE finish line, but I don't know where it is.

 

[Dreaming of Freedom]

I've already got one tiny house--a fifth wheel camping trailer with 400 square feet.

Too bad they're not allowed to be setup within our city limits and are not commonly accepted as permanent housing.

It's not big enough for my stuff anyway.

We have a 100 SF somewhat tiny trailer, and live in it full time for a couple weeks a year. I can almost cook dinner and take a shower at the same time! Cleaning the house only takes 10 minutes :-D

 

[NW-Bound]

Its getting more traction.

My Niece and her boyfriend quit their jobs, built a tiny house mostly using donated materials via advertising and spent a year traveling the US in it. They have been on HGTV and now he helps others build tiny houses and she has a blog . TINY HOUSE giant journey - Making North America our own backyard

I have read their blog, and the other day happened to see them on TV too. They surely are having fun, but how do they make a living?

I've already got one tiny house--a fifth wheel camping trailer with 400 square feet...

That's palatial compared to my 200-sq.ft. class C. We travel for 2 months at a time with it, and it is comfortable. I would not want to travel with anything larger than that, and in fact often think I could go smaller to a class B.

But that is for travel. When back home, I have hobbies and need room for my "stuff".

 

[Midpack]

I am fascinated with tiny houses, though we'd need 240-400 sqft. I've spent long stretches living on boats, though I realize permanent is another matter. And we believe less (stuff) is more!

Unfortunately DW is definitely not interested in tiny houses...

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I'm intrigued with the tiny houses. I'm getting more and more adamant about not having a lot of 'stuff'. Down the road from my Dad's place, a brother and sister lived next to each other in separate 2,000 SF houses they had built in 1972. The sister had a stroke at the age of 94 and her brother moved into her place to take care of her about 3 years ago. She died about 2 years ago. The brother died 2 months ago at the age of 100. Both houses now have roll off dumpsters in the driveways piled to the brim of material possessions that were accumulated over a whole bunch of years. I don't want the culmination of my life to be a full roll off dumpster.

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.

 

[NW-Bound]

If one gets to live to 100, does it matter whether he dies in a tiny house or a mansion, as long as he is happy while living? Perhaps the above geezers do not care for travel or other leisure activities, and their stuff gave them their happiness.

 

[Live And Learn]

DH and I could live in 2 200 sq ft homes situated 200 yards from each other. We couldn't do one 400 sq ft place. We need our individual space.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

If one gets to live to 100, does it matter whether he dies in a tiny house or a mansion, as long as he is happy while living? Perhaps the above geezers do not care for travel or other leisure activities, and their stuff gave them their happiness.

Oh no, I think you may have misunderstood me (or I didn't word it correctly). I have nothing bad to say about them AT ALL. I was using them an example of what *I* don't want to do. Such as I *didn't* want to w*rk until I was 65. If folks want to w*rk until 65, that is certainly their prerogative and if they like it, then hey..who am I to judge?

*I* don't want to accumulate so much crap that it will take 2 big dumpsters to clean out my house. I would like to have very FULL life without have a very FULL house!

I knew the "old geezers" since I was a kid...as a matter of fact, when I was 8, I crashed my Mom's '71 Camaro into the sister's fence! They were fabulous people and lived GREAT lives. They had just accumulated a LOT of STUFF over the years.

 

[rodi]

In California the "companion unit" laws were designed to allow secondary small homes on SFR lots. These granny flats provide the opportunity for multi-generational living and/or low income housing. The limit is 700sf max... so pretty much every legal "companion unit" in CA is less than 700sf.

As some of you know, we built a companion unit for my in-laws to live in. It allowed them to remain independent, with some support from us as needed. It solved a family problem at the time. Now we have it rented to a young couple who really enjoy having a well thought out 1 bedroom house.

When we were designing it, we tried to anticipate storage needs, multifunction spaces, and tried to design it so that we would be happy in it if we decided to downsize to this space after the kids are out of the house. (For example, I insisted on a stacked full size washer/dryer and full size stove.) Our tenants have extended some of the creative storage solutions - hanging racks for surfboards and bikes on the front porch, etc.

 

[Sarah in SC]

DH and I could live in 2 200 sq ft homes situated 200 yards from each other. We couldn't do one 400 sq ft place. We need our individual space.

This actually makes a lot of sense. And a perfect way to capture it would be with the lovely vernacular feature we always called the dogtrot. I've always wanted to build something like that--a his and hers with a big space in the middle.

I'm a tiny house fan, and keep threatening to put DH to work building one, though I've finally conceded that if we do, it really should be incorporated into the existing house, since we are 20 feet off the ground and there's plenty of space for it under there.

But I do have a mighty soft spot for those cute little buggers on wheels!

 

[timo2]

Tiny houses are really taking off, it seems for solving homeless issues

"There are many opportunities for you to pave the way home for our homeless brothers and sisters in need. Mobile Loaves & Fishes invites you to place your name on a homesite at the Community First! Village, or support a builder in Build Your Neighbor a Home initiative."
​

http://mlf.org/community-first/

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Tiny houses are really taking off, it seems for solving homeless issues

"There are many opportunities for you to pave the way home for our homeless brothers and sisters in need. Mobile Loaves & Fishes invites you to place your name on a homesite at the Community First! Village, or support a builder in Build Your Neighbor a Home initiative."
​

http://mlf.org/community-first/

Thanks for the link. Helping support a project like this is on my bucket list. We're a rich nation - no one should be homeless when a tiny houses can be built so relatively cheaply.

 

[meierlde]

In California the "companion unit" laws were designed to allow secondary small homes on SFR lots. These granny flats provide the opportunity for multi-generational living and/or low income housing. The limit is 700sf max... so pretty much every legal "companion unit" in CA is less than 700sf.

As some of you know, we built a companion unit for my in-laws to live in. It allowed them to remain independent, with some support from us as needed. It solved a family problem at the time. Now we have it rented to a young couple who really enjoy having a well thought out 1 bedroom house.

When we were designing it, we tried to anticipate storage needs, multifunction spaces, and tried to design it so that we would be happy in it if we decided to downsize to this space after the kids are out of the house. (For example, I insisted on a stacked full size washer/dryer and full size stove.) Our tenants have extended some of the creative storage solutions - hanging racks for surfboards and bikes on the front porch, etc.

A number of years ago my sister rented such a house built in the 1920s in the back part another house lot in Pasadena,Ca. If you look at google earth you see several such small houses typically on the corner lots of the subdivision, with the main house on the main street and the small house on the side street. So this sort of thing has gone on for a long time.

They moved on after finishing school. However today this 972 or so sq foot place lists on Zillow for 587k.

 

[mpeirce]

After watching some TV about Tiny Houses (I have no first hand experience with them), it seems that most of these places are simple reinvented mobile homes / trailers built in a way to be more acceptable to hipsters.

How am I wrong?

 

[Sarah in SC]

The materials and finishes are way above typical mobile homes/trailers. Think granite and solid wood, and very high quality (and in some cases, custom) appliances.

 

[ERD50]

Tiny houses are really taking off, it seems for solving homeless issues

"There are many opportunities for you to pave the way home for our homeless brothers and sisters in need. Mobile Loaves & Fishes invites you to place your name on a homesite at the Community First! Village, or support a builder in Build Your Neighbor a Home initiative."
​

http://mlf.org/community-first/

Thanks for the link. Helping support a project like this is on my bucket list. We're a rich nation - no one should be homeless when a tiny houses can be built so relatively cheaply.

Unfortunately, from what I understand, being homeless has little/nothing to do with a home for many of the homeless. Many homeless people have issues (mental health, addictions, etc). Most of them could not maintain a home if you gave it to them. They need a job, they need to be able to find and keep a job, and take care of themselves.

Low cost homes might help some on the edges, but aren't there housing subsidies for those types?

Here's a breakdown I found:

Factors contributing to Homelessness | Homeless Resource Network

Hard to say, but even some of the top causes "Loss of Job", "Jail","Eviction", "Family Problems", "Domestic Violence", "Prison", and a few others might actually be the side effects of mental issues, addictions, and/or just not being able to be responsible. And giving someone a home, or offering a low cost home is unlikely to fix that.


-ERD50

 

[timo2]

Unfortunately, from what I understand, being homeless has little/nothing to do with a home for many of the homeless. Many homeless people have issues (mental health, addictions, etc). Most of them could not maintain a home if you gave it to them. They need a job, they need to be able to find and keep a job, and take care of themselves.

Low cost homes might help some on the edges, but aren't there housing subsidies for those types?

-ERD50

Certainly one solution does not fit all. But one does what they can. Look what Salt Lake City did. http://www.governing.com/news/headlines/gov-how-salt-lake-city-licked-veteran-homelessness.html

 

[Hermit]

We had two tiny houses moved into my mountain community this summer. They are for summer homes/weekend getaways. I have toured both and they are quite nice. They are made to be placed on a lot and stay there. The wheels only get them to the lot. Both were 399 sq ft. One was about 12 feet wide and the other 14 feet wide. Both were made by the same manufacturer and each had a loft area that was between 4 and 5 feet high. Nice for the grand kids. That is something you cannot do in a conventional home.