Tiny houses are promoted as an answer to the affordable housing crisis; a desirable alternative to traditional homes and mortgages. Yet there are many complexities and contradictions that surround these tiny spaces, as I discovered when I began investigating them. — Fast Company
There is something inherently romantic about the nomadic lifestyle cooked up in the 1960's, exemplified by the VW van and the desert campfire. While this relic of America's recent past became, undoubtedly, the inspiration for the Tiny Home movement in recent years, the reasons for its current popularity do not match those of its precedent.
Megan Carras "toured homes, attended tiny house festivals, stayed in a tiny house community, and interviewed several dozen people who live in them" to reach a discover that there is more to their wide spread use than popularly imagined. Tiny homes are, as Carras makes evident, a sign of economic precarity - one particularly felt by the millennial generation.
"All the tiny-houser millennials that I interviewed wanted to own bigger houses in the future," Carras reports. "They saw tiny living as a means of owning something now and being able to save at the same time. Several young couples planned to upgrade once they had children, selling their tiny homes or even keeping them as guesthouses... [But] part from the obvious challenge of saving enough to afford a bigger place, it’s not easy to sell tiny homes since they usually depreciate in value. And because they are not attached to land, there is often a question mark about their long-term viability as well."
The precarity felt by those that subscribe to the Tiny Home movement, as Carras observes, is physicalized by the fact that these homes literally do not have a solid foundation. As one interviewee told Carras: “It doesn’t feel that grounded; it feels like we are detached from the earth because there are wheels underneath us . . . It’s a constant reminder . . . you are in this fragile state of housing.”
While the Tiny Home movement is a positive alternative to the equally famed McMansion, there is much to the psychology of the trend that needs to be addressed in future designs and coding.
The whole housing market is propped up by the mortgage industry that offers products to artificially inflate the market. If 30-year indentured servitude didn't exist, there is no way that home prices would be what they are. Tiny homes and micro-apartments are just a symptom of larger problems within the financial industry. With the rise of the gig economy and the prospects of a 30-year career fading for most, I see a new housing crisis on the horizon, but hopefully with the silver lining that prices will permanently drop to some sane level.
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it's a glorified trailer.
"symbols of economic precarity" duh.
When the country was first settled it was a common practice for the settler to build a small log house on the property. Later this log cabin was incorporated into a larger home. Often the log cabin had siding attached and was indistinguishable at first glance from the newer house. There are several such houses within a five-mile radius of my home in Virginia. Some wealthy people have built beautiful new homes that mimic this look, and have even gone to great lengths to artificially age the entire house so it will look like something from the late 1800's. The message for millennials is to buy a lot where they can build a small house of quality materials and designed so that it can be incorporated into a larger one later.
"The message for millennials is to buy"
First they have to have the means.
Just like saying the solution to hunger is to build more supermarkets. Genius.
More potent symbols of the current economic precarity are the urban "micro apartment" and "co-living" bandwagons.
People want a little space to call their own, and whilst families are a beautiful thing, living with them isn't something everyone is wired to cope with. Be it young people starting out, the elders or disabled who seek to remain independent, people should not be priced out off housing. Grouped into state supervision because of limited means is a nightmare many face in late years- we already have far too many disabled people homeless, many who take chances on street before submitting to care homes. Why? With realistic housing costs, you prevent issues from arising.
Tiny Houses are just TRAILER HOUSES under an assumed name!! Keep them in trailer parks where they belong. These things can't be parked just anywhere. They need sewer and water hookups at the very least. Squatting on someone else's property should not be allowed. Pay your own way, moochers!
cougracer67, had you actually looked into this before opening your big mouth before making uneducated rude statements you would know that there VERY minimal spots for a tiny home to settle on. Where I am from they can ONLY be put on land zoned for a RV park (NOT a trailer park) or on land that has a preexisting home meeting 7
local building codes. So it isn't "moochers" thank you very much. Also, they do have water tanks and compost toilets for sewer. Why are you so upset people want affordable housing? LOL. Calm down there buddy, people just want to love comfortably and have a nice place to call their own.
FEB 13, 19 3:31 AM · REPLY BELOW ↓
RV parks are trailer parks... just another name for the same thing, and tiny homes are just more expensive trailers. Silly millennials.
@cougracer67, had you actually looked into this before opening your big mouth before making uneducated rude statements you would know that there VERY minimal spots for a tiny home to settle on. Where I am from they can ONLY be put on land zoned for a RV park (NOT a trailer park) or on land that has a preexisting home meeting local building codes. So it isn't "moochers" thank you very much. Also, they do have water tanks and compost toilets for sewer. Why are you so upset people want affordable housing? LOL. Calm down there buddy, people just want to love comfortably and have a nice place to call their own.
At the very least put some bloody solar panels on the roof and for the rest, this is not a solution. Where do you put it and how do you get from there to your local Starbucks? Affordable housing inside our cities is where it's at.
Brilliantly designed efficiently compatible for a family of 2, I would like to experience comfort that these beautiful tiny homes provide!
Here is a home in Danville, Virginia's historic district. it is $36,000. After a 20% deposit the monthly principal and interest would be $126 on a 30 year loan. Danville, in the south-central part of the state, is seeking to renew itself with highly-educated young people and seems to having success in doing so.
That house is enormous, the paint job alone will cost a fortune, is steel siding that looks like wood allowed in the historic district, or solar panels on the roof? Because the energy bill, my God the energy bill! And don't get me started about vacuum cleaning the place, that's a full-time job right there!
why would anyone want to live in Danville?
To me, this is the real issue in the USA: there are plenty of buildings, they are just in towns that the prevailing groupthink deems undesirable.
Supposedly, technology will allow people to "work anywhere" and by extension, "live anywhere" but somehow people just keep piling into NYC, SF, Boston, Austin, etc.
Exactly, people are simply social and physical creatures. You can work from anywhere if you work with computers (nearly 40 million Americans are never on the internet) but do people want to? It's the difference between masturbating to internet porn or having actual sex. And if you live in your Tiny House without any one around, nobody to bump into in the check-out lane, in the cafe or at yoga class, internet porn is all you'll ever get if you're even connected to the web...
My concern is more that economic activity in the USA is stupidly being focused and consolidated in a small number of cities, to the detriment of everywhere else. People seeking economic opportunity are being forced into a handful of urban regions where tremendous housing scarcity has been created and perpetuated.
People in general want to live where other people live, and that creates economic opportunities.
Well, here is one in Danville slightly smaller at $89,000.
Affordable homes inside cities? What a joke. Here in Northern Virginia you can't get a home for less than 400k, closer to the city (where all the good paying jobs are) it's more like $700k+. Developers just don't care about building homes for first-time homebuyers. They buy up all the land, pack it full of McMansions, and move onto the next plot. And let's not forget that they do nothing for the roads or infrastructure, just pack 'em in and move on. Greedy-a** developers not building any affordable housing are a huge part of the reason why people have gone the tiny home route.
why force private companies (builders) to build entry-level homes and cut their profit margins? Who would agree to that? If there was not a steady supply of folks able to pay the price (or at least qualify for a stupid 30y mortgage with minimal downpayment), then houses would not be at that price point.
Today, people are being driven to dedicate a much bigger percentage of their income to housing. Builders and re-sellers have thus inflated their prices accordingly. Financial planners will tell you to limit your housing outlay to 25% of your monthly take-home, but many nowadays are spending in the 40-50% range. This is often the result of employment opportunities being concentrated in high-cost areas.
That's a simple way to put it, but no one is forcing anyone to spend 40+%. My mortgage, including property taxes, is less than %25 of my net income.
Interesting to note the number of outsiders posting here for the first time.
Housing affordability is a critical problem in the US, and has been pointed out that includes the cost of maintenance.
@Miles - This article is currently trending on Google. That's probably why.
As a reporter, i feel certain the thesis to this article was made before its research, by someone who dislikes tiny homes and who never looked into it for them self.
I am currently building a large home on land because because of the money i saved living in the tiny home i built. The challenges building the tiny home prepared me for the challenges of building a home, bigger than the guy writing this article. Secondly, Id say the most important part of finding a place to put the tiny home is how deep of trust you have built with your fellow man. I never had a problem placing my tinyhome because i had multiple famiky and friends fight over me. And thats because I work hard and always do my fair share. So they were fighting over a person that would always pay my $400 per month for space and utility connections. Who would beat them to taking out garbage cans to street. Ect. I also put time into meeting and smoozing neighbors by offering help with any home improvement projects or yard work. I would tell them im considering living in that neiborhood and would like to build relations. This gets them thinking how nice it would be to have your addition to the area, instead of how they might not. Bringing your home before building relations will open yourself to resistance. In conclusion, its helping our economy for people to have an opportunity to build them selfs into wealth, by starting with a tiny home. To enjoy all that, you just need to work hard, treat your fellow man fair, and not cry about an occasional wobbling when your jumping in your home.
Did you hire an architect to design this new home of yours?
Sadly enough, people get a loan for these trailers and then you see the real value. That is if you can get a loan. Most I've seen are at least 80k plus and it will never be worth that again. I would much rather see someone by a home maybe even a 2 bedroom and have something. People forget you will be in a mobile home park if they allow. With old single wide or new double wides that look like home. I think these are neat but a money pit period. Rent one for a week. You will say excuse me and oops more than you ever have. Don't get fooled. Ask where you can out it and see another 500- 700 down the drain in lot rent.
ding ding ding. This is the correct answer.
There are hundreds of textile towns in the south and the northeast and mining towns in the west that have suffered a decline in population in the last 100 years or so that are poised for a comeback. Many of these places have a housing stock readily available at affordable prices. The advent of the internet allows people to work from almost anywhere. Telluride, Aspen, Park City and others were defunct mining towns at one time not that long ago. Just a different take from 'everybody is moving to the cities' meme - which I don't believe for a minute.
I would totally live in one of these. Ideally I would want to live in a "tiny home" community with a club house of sorts. It would provide a gathering place and an opportunity to be more involved with other people. We are be coming a more and more isolated country. More people in the world live in this size house than the houses we complain are "too small".
Serious question: How is what you describe different from a typical apartment complex? Does the answer have anything to do with *ownership*? If so, then why not a condominium complex?
Donna, stop making sense.
KCRW had a recent story on Tenant-In-Common (TIC) real-estate. It sounds like an even better alternative to condominiums and takes developers and HOA fees out of the situation. Not to mention allows for uneven distribution of a property, which is good because every household has different needs (not to mention the architectural implications). Coming from someone who is living in a 450 sqft studio apartment with a SO and 35lb dog, but that's because 60% of our income is going to student loans... https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/press-play-with-madeleine-brand/scandal-in-virginia-blackface-and-sexual-assault/to-keep-prices-down-some-la-home-buyers-are-sharing-costs-renter-may-pay-a-price
@Volunteer -
Somebody needs to tell employers that it's 2019 and that people can actually perform work from anywhere. Far too many are stuck in the outdated mentality that "everyone needs to be physically present in an office together" in order to work. It's been my experience (working in the IT industry for the past few decades) that most employers don't want to invest in the technology needed to support telework, and until that happens we'll never be able to decentralize from our over-crowded and over-priced cities.
This does not easily translate in architecture offices or other environment where physical communication is important.
Here some inspiration for Tiny Housing from The Netherlands:
source: http://www.bouwexpo-tinyhousin...
Here more about that A-shaped house: https://www.tiny-a.nl/ (which is actually for sale for over €200.000 (for not even 50m2 or 540sq ft))
What a bargain. I assume it floats.
Unfortunately it is connected to a plate foundation (if that's a word)
Some off these people in here trying to discourage others from building tiny homes have not actually tried them self... It doesn't matter if your building a tiny home, or home on land, you face challenges. You can either wine like all of you tinyhome neigh sayers. I had to make changes when i had my tiny home plans reviewed by a architect. I also had to do this with my new home construction. Its not that big of a deal. The architect you pay for will usually give you ideas how to change it to meet code.
I don't know anyone who has ever taken out a loan for a tiny home. Im sure they exist, like on the tv show tinyhomenation. If you build your own homes, starting with a tiny home, you will save much more than buying a home. All these guys hating on tinyhomes have to have others build homes for them. They buy these homes for 3x the amount of money it take to build one yourself. They borrow/getloans for money they haven't earned yet to buy. All because there are too scared to step outside there office job to actually build something them self. I promise if you build it yourself you wont lose on the resale. But im keeping my tinyhome on my nee property for good. I need it to live in while im building my home. After that, i will use it for a guest house. PS:non sequitur, repying "ding dong" as your rebutle without actually putting any substance isn't going to sway anyone from building there dreams. Cause they can see you don't conversate like a builder. Ps: S.ianham thanks for actually having legit conversation.
Simply because I don't respond point by point to your posts does not mean I'm clueless. I make a living designing buildings and making sure what I draw is buildable, but that's not relevant here. The problem is the popular romantic view (due to reality TV) too many folks have on the TH movement. Having the capital on hand to build a TH and the foresight to turn it into a semi-permanent home while you build a real (ie. with foundation) permanent home is not the popular view of the TH folks.
and Aaron, since you actually own a TH business, I'd say your opinion needs to be heavily discounted.
The reason "non sequitur" didn't put a my business link is because I don't have one. Easy for you to accuse, I would be surprised if you are guilty of the very thing you just claim me to be. The biggest problem with your strategy... people like you, who are not gritty enough to build there own home are actually not going to build one anyways....people who are gritty enough to make it past some of the challenges and stigma won't be effected by your incoherent attempt to discredit me. If they can read more than 3 sentences, they will see my previous posts were in support of self building your own. So how can I sell tinyhomes if i am telling people they should build it them self. Haha. They will even gain motivation as they read your childish politics. The best thing you could do to discredit me is to post a link for everyone to see this so called tiny home business.
I didn't post your details because I don't see the value in giving you additional promotion.
I'm curious why such hatred. I will defiantly be checking out what business your working for, Im sure a blood sucking realestate. Im sure you profit off people not living in tiny
homes.
I'm a commercial architect and have no hatred for what people do with their housing situation. See my first response above relating to the false romanticism of the TH.
Put them on a foundation and add a few hundred square feet and we're right back to the cottages of the early 20th century.
Yep, a cottage Next to my MANSION. Started with a 20th century cottage on wheels was a vital key the becoming of buying land, and building big. Well put.
Semi-related question, where do you buy this thing called "land"? People keep talking about "buying some land and putting a house on it", but 1 acre anywhere within 200 miles of me is upwards of $4 mil. And I don't have any family that I can just plunk down on their place. My fiancé and I would love to get out of the trap of ever-increasing rent but it seems like an unattainable dream. :'(
That's the national plan. Consume 40% or more of your income to fatten some asshole's investment portfolio.
^^This!^^ And the "urban densification" scam that wants us all to pile into media-anointed urban neighborhoods where all of the land has been bought up already.
A large part of the attraction of tiny homes is that they bypass many of the costs and restrictions that make building smaller stick-built dwellings impossible. In many places if you try to build something under $200,000 you end up with zoning compliance, inspections, local district fees/surcharges, utility connections, etc. being 30 to 40% of the cost. For the most part you get no size-proportional break on the project cost. It's the same whether a $200K house or a $1.2M house. You can't build starter or worker housing if mandatory fees don't make it pencil out.
THIS bullshit article once again. This time in third person reference.
No, we don't long for your mcmansion.
No, we aren't despondant and living small because we are broke.
Precarious is having a heavy mortgage, loaded credit cards, working two jobs and rarely enjoying your home or your spouse. We are fulfilled in a deep way we never experienced before.
Stop reposting this stupid article.
cool story, but one can live in a normal-sized house without maxing-out 8 credit cards or taking on massive mortgages. Having a tiny house does not guarantee salvation from these nor does it automatically give you some super secret life fulfillment sense. Article is pretty on point.
I see that "working from home" is presented as if it were a valid solution. But tell me, what does ""working" from home actually produce? Will sitting on your butt tapping computer keys bring foodstuffs to your local grocery store, or process it from the raw ingredients? Can you manufacture any consumer products (like a car or coffee maker) from your comfy chair? No? I didn't think so!
Someone has to grow and prepare the food that you eat. Someone has to operate the machinery that builds your car. Who is going to do this since you think you're too special (read 'frail') to do real work yourself? If everything is digitized and robotized, no one will have a job (income) to afford whatever it is you do on your computer!
The leadership in the USA has had no problem watching businesses send most manufacturing jobs overseas and letting brick and mortar retail be assaulted by monopolies and die off. We are all now supposed to be at rented co-working desks doing freelance PR for internet startups.
LOL. The trolling is strong in this one.
What do you expect with a bunch of non-architect one-post ponies coming into an architecture discussion forum.
One-post Ponies, I like that!
^patent-pending. Watch-out, or else I'll (pretend) to sue like if my name was David Cur...
When I was in college, our class built a tiny house sized playhouse for a Habitat for Humanity auction. With the success of our sale (ours being the highest bid going at $20k- no bath, kitchen or plumbing- I sought to design one for my kids.
I wanted to incorporate a garden hose and extension cord for my kids to be able to wash hands and have lights for playing and sleepovers, while being able to also park it out front to shelter in waiting for the school bus. While web-surfing designs, I stumbled on the tiny house movement.
Fast-forward 15 years, and I now own a less-than 400 square foot park model cabin in an RV park in New England (which I do summer work from) and less-than 400 square foot concrete block house in another state that is my residence when I'm not traveling the country for work.
Both of my homes are grounded- and one will actually appreciate. Both have full kitchens and baths, a real bedroom and are low-maintenance, energy efficient and pretty much lock and leave. I paid under $25K for both combined and spend time remodeling to my taste (which is very affordable with no mortgages)
I would never want a house on wheels- even million dollar RVs depreciate by up to 50% per year. It's a worse investment than a mobile home, since every bump on the road and loosen screws.
While shopping for a second RV, I have tent-camped from San Diego to the Florida Keys to Bar Harbor and have listened to all the full-time RVers complain about slide-outs not working (your stuck until you make the expensive repair), appliances costing twice as much to repair/replace (because everything is custom), to other built-in repairs/replacements like awnings, electronics. I've heard about running out of propane in an unusual cold-snap, pipes freezing/bursting, the gas prices to drive/haul (your fuel economy to haul is often less than half)......and shall we mention when there's a sewer backup, no sewer sites available or the poopoo pumper truck not coming for 3 more days when you need it now? Gross!!
After a few years of listening to grievances, I decided NEVER to buy an RV. The headaches are simply too much and the savings are ALWAYS offset by fuel, repairs and seedy laundromats. Not to mention that your travel dining and shopping is limited to Cracker Barrel, truck stops, Walmart and (if you are lucky)- the back of a mall parking lot.....but don't plan on doing much fun shopping- you don't have the room or weight limit to handle that.
100K for a tiny headache because people are overwhelmed by their junk. They go from one extreme to the next. Tip: find a house or condo for around 1000 square feet (give or take) depending on your needs, floor plan, community amenities, proximity to work/social environment and wether or not you plan to accommodate an overnight guest or get surprised with that new spouse or baby. I find that just under 400 is plenty for me, but I'm never in the same spot with work or travel for more than 90-100 days.
I'm not any part of a "movement". Live simple, but leave room to love it
Making sensible contribution to the discussion is frowned upon. It's much better to only live on either extremes. 8-)
Well I can certainly see people here are very slow at thinking this tiny homes venture . Number one there's been talk of many states being hit hard with homelessness in the cities that most commute to for work causing problems such as hap- hazards living in tents close to highways to leaving debris accumilate from garbage to feces m atter which then causes rodent and bug infestation so tell me did any one ever think that in our day and age anyone is able to buy those big homes with outrages mortgages,not to mention what land ? Most states are having to think about building up not out since land is very costly and two not much left unless you want to cut into our national parks.another thing those tiny homes are great for the eldly who still want there independance and want there own time to spend with there spouse in there later years not wanting the kids moving back in .there like the matchbox homes but smaller to guarnitee no moving in for growing adults to live off there parents
Funny story...I went camping about 20 years ago with a group of friends. We met a dude who said he’s been living at the site for 2 years, and was ranting about how much money he saves, how free he is, etc...later that night we are eating mushrooms and having fun...then all of a sudden he walks up to our site and starts yelling that we are making too much noise and he has to get up for work. We were cool with him and turned the music down. He says that we need to respect his home blah blah blah...All of a sudden he starts screaming making weird sounds at the top of his lungs and runs into to woods like a fucking wild animal. This is while we are all bugging out. Moral of the story. Small houses may be ok, but people who live in campgrounds are crazy and one should never do mushrooms around them.
The whole housing market is propped up by the mortgage industry that offers products to artificially inflate the market. If 30-year indentured servitude didn't exist, there is no way that home prices would be what they are. Tiny homes and micro-apartments are just a symptom of larger problems within the financial industry. With the rise of the gig economy and the prospects of a 30-year career fading for most, I see a new housing crisis on the horizon, but hopefully with the silver lining that prices will permanently drop to some sane level.
Economics at work: tax benefits for developers and rentiers increased (again) with the last tax "reform", increasing the rewards from investment in income-producing property. Change the tax code to penalize this behavior instead of rewarding it and the problem will be solved.
I would argue that the problem is the 30-year mortgage. It effectively hides the true purchase cost behind a monthly payment. In the process, banks put their fangs in you at 4-6% annual interest for decades. The 30-year mortgage is a relic of a previous era that assumed income stability. Well what happens when the prospect of consistent income over multiple decades is no longer a given for an increasing segment of the population? A larger and larger proportion of the population will find homeownership inaccessible (already happening) and the next downturn/recession will trigger yet another round of massive foreclosures which is starting to look more cyclical than a one-time event.
Wall Street Is Your Landlord
I would like to address this weird notion of moving to a small town with available houseing and just work from home. How many people do you personally know who actually works from home. I don't know a single person in my entire life who works from home. Even Lyft drivers and Postmates delivery dudes have main jobs in an actual physical building. Yet I'm always told, you could move to a more affordable city and work from home. Yeah, that sounds to me like I can move to another city, fail at finding an actual job, and have to return home in defeat.
There are a huge number of "white collar" jobs that don't need to be performed in an office. Off-hand I can think of accounting, data entry, call center, medical billing, web design, programmer, etc. I work in an office (doing IT support) but am able to do a large percentage of my work from home. Our entire accounting staff and call center could work from home, as well, if the company were willing to empower them with that capability (think: trust them to still do work and not goof off).
If more companies would be proactive in this approach you'd find happier employees, less traffic on the roads, less business capital expenses for office buildings, furniture, heating & cooling the building, etc. Point being, that unless your dream job is stocking shelves at Home Depot all day long, we have the capability - we just need more employers to modernize their mindset and realize working from home is a smart alternative to "cubicle farms".
I prefer my home life and work life to be separate. Work is in the busy downtown core and home is in a 60y old urban neighbourhood with immediate access to rapid transit to the aforementioned busy core.
Office positios, maybe, but Ive never met any office workers. My mom worked customer service in an office, but she went to a physical location everyday.
Haven't lived in a 'tiny home' but I assume its probably okay for a little while. The only thing I don't get is why spend 40k to build the thing with wood/metal siding, granite countertops, and high end appliances, when you would still need a huge truck (sometimes a 18 wheeler) to move it. That's a huge cost that I would not want to endure evrytime I packed it up to move if i could. Otherwise, just build a really small house on a little bit of land. It seems that the camper industry would benefit from this movement if they re-invented what campers looked like. They been relatively the same in interior base models for many years. (I have been in some really nice campers) It just seems that the tiny house is more of a semi-nomadic than wholly nomadic. But as young person myself, I can get the idea of saving money, but this just seems like a stretch.
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