Overcoming the Barriers to Micro-Housing: Tiny Houses, Big Potential
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Date
2016
Authors
Brown, Emily
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Planning, Public Policy & Management, University of Oregon
Abstract
Micro-housing refers to residential units that are smaller than
traditionally-sized units. These can be complete units that include
bathrooms and kitchens, or units that share communal space and
amenities. This research looks at two forms of micro-housing:
individual tiny homes and micro-villages. It contributes to a growing
body of resources that help people live in tiny houses by consolidating
a list of challenges and identifying strategies that allow people to
overcome these barriers. The tiny house movement advocates for downsizing
from traditionally-sized homes to smaller houses.
Advocates speak of the potential to simplify one’s life,
decrease one’s environmental impact, save money, and
live independently. To some, the tiny house movement is
seen as extending from the Back-to-the-Earth movement
of the 1970s, and others trace it back to Thoreau and his
emphasis on living simply and deliberately.
Although some cities are working to accommodate these
nonconventional housing options, significant barriers
still prohibit people from living in a tiny house.Micro-villages are intentional tiny home communities that
represent the merging of the tiny house movement with the tent city
movement. These communities are emerging as one solution to
providing permanent and transitional housing to people
experiencing homelessness.
Micro-villages often feature up to 30 tiny homes and shared
communal space. They can range in legality from sanctioned,
publicly-funded communities to unsanctioned, informal gatherings
of shelter.
Micro-villages featured in this research include Quixote Village
(Olympia, WA), Second Wind Cottages (Ithaca, NY), Dignity
Village (Portland, OR), Occupy Madison (Madison, WI) and
Opportunity Village Eugene (Eugene, OR). The main barriers to micro-villages are often social
opposition, NIMBYism and a lack of political will from
local government. Many micro-villages are also challenged
by a lack of funding, difficulty finding a location and
zoning. Much of this can be related to a pervasive stigma
associated with homelessness and affordable housing.
Keys to the success of micro-villages have been
collaboration with local governments, coalition building,
diversifying funding, early community outreach and strong
community agreements within the villages.
What can communities do?
To best support micro-villages, communities can combat the
stigma of homelessness by changing the local dialogue around
homelessness. We can do this by educating ourselves and each
other about the complexity and true causes of homelessness.
Sharing stories of success also makes it clear that the positive
outcomes of micro-villages outweigh the negative. Overall, the two biggest barriers to tiny homes are
building codes and zoning ordinances that treat them as
illegal or illegitimate types of housing. This illegality
complicates accessing insurance and financing, finding a
place to park, and getting a home repaired.
One factor that contributes to the ease of living in a tiny
house is the policy framework in a particular community.
Many tiny house residents had more success in areas
where governments were willing to accommodate smaller
dwelling units in their codes and ordinances.
What can governments do? The rapid increase in the number of proposed microvillages
indicates growing community support that needs
to be matched by the political will of local governments.
Local governments can accommodate tiny homes and
micro-villages by:
Decrease minimum area requirements for dwelling
units (can be as low as 70 sf);
Add flexibility to zoning requirements to encourage
innovative housing solutions;
Allow tiny houses on foundations outright;
Permit micro-villages as multi-family developments;
Help groups starting a micro-village find land,
access funding and overcome opposition; and
Treat tiny houses and micro-villages as a part of the
solution to the affordable housing and homelessness
crises.
Implementation of Madison Park, a proposed micro-village in Walla
Walla, WA, is stagnated only by community opposition.
http://www.wwallianceforthehomeless.com/
Description
74 pages