Tiny homes are a fashionably cute idea that has received a hopeful welcome by those desperate for a solution to the affordable housing crisis. Lost somewhere in the enthusiasm is the fact that tiny homes have been around for a great many years. Trailers, caravans, single-wides, double-wides: these smaller than average (a.k.a. ‘tiny’) houses can still be found in trailer parks everywhere, exhibiting every possible level of community responsibility and pride, from junkyard shacks to lovingly-tended cottages in a fairyland of flowers.
But a recent Saskatchewan headscratcher sums up some of the fundamental problems that appear once a purchaser pays good money for a tiny home, and takes delivery . . . exactly where? Read the amusing experience of one Saskatchewan farmer as reported by the CBC: ‘That’s strange’: Sask. property owner finds unexpected house parked in his field
Unfortunately, tiny homes are not exempt from the rules and regulations that govern the responsibilities and safety of both homeowners and their chosen community. A recent article in the New York Times further explores this problem: Where Can You Park a Tiny Home?
One solution is an old solution: a trailer park can provide the essential services necessary for tiny housing life in a community: electricity, clean water, sewage, road plowing in winter, and so on. But for life outside these communities that have for decades specialized in catering for tiny houses, the future is uncertain. (Or, if it can be made certain, it is at least as unaffordable as the cost of purchasing and servicing of a suitable plot of land.)
Ingenious tiny home ideas can offer considerable promise, such as this one reported in Next City: Tiny House Design Floats Affordable Housing Over Parking Spaces.
But the success of a ‘next generation’ tiny house will depend not only on ingenious design, but on civic politics and neighbourhood diplomacy. It will require considerable effort by both developers and community leaders alike to battle the inevitable ‘Not In My Back Yard’ (or ‘Back Alley’) pressures from nearby homeowners. As well, the safety and servicing of both the house itself, as well as a possible neighbourhoods of such tiny houses, promises to be a significant challenge for community development of new zoning categories and appropriate building codes.
The difficulties moving forward are hardly cause for despair, however. Just as there can ingenious solutions for tiny house construction, there can be new ideas for finding the land on which to place them. In a Northern British Columbia First Nations reserve, house-building dollars are scarce. Land is not so much the problem. The results of a tiny home pilot project in this community are encouraging, as reported by CBC News: ‘It means a lot to me’: 1 year later, tiny homes in this B.C. community are making a big difference
