The folks at Tiny House Expedition have been touring the US in their tiny home. Finding ways to live legally in a tiny house is one of the things they’ve been talking to people about around the country. They’ve filmed these conversations and have produced a fantastic educational docs-series called Living Tiny Legally – part 1 of 3 is available now.
Be sure to subscribe to the Tiny House Expedition YouTube Channel and follow them on the Tiny House Expedition website.
Part 2 and 3 are in production now. When you make a tax-deductible donation to the Tiny House Expedition, these funds go to help produce projects like Living Tiny Legally. Get all the details at the Tiny House Expedition website.
let us know what you find out for Pennsylvania. You can’t do anything here anymore.
We’ve just received notice that we have 30 days to get out of our tiny house. We are in Steilacoom, Washington and our home is on wheels and is parked in the back yard of our regular size home (which a family member lives in). As I watched this video I began to get emotional. I long to be welcomed and accommodated rather than told to leave with such hostility. Maybe we just live in the wrong town… If anyone has ideas or is willing to help us get through to our town about the benefit of tiny houses, we welcome it.
Shannon Johnson
http://www.tinylike.us
Hi Shannon,
I saw the news story… so sorry this is happening to you and your family. There’s a large group of tiny house folks on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/263514133851871/ I wonder if someone there might have some good advice for next steps. At the very least you might find a place nearby to move your house while you work with the town to get it approved.
Good luck!
-Michael
So sorry to hear of your predicament. We had a run in with code enforcement in the Los Angeles area last year and were given 7 days to remove it before criminal proceedings were filed. We were not even living in it. I’m sure it’s small comfort, but at least you have a month…. Best wishes
Could you PLEASE bring your caravan to the Hershey, PA RV show? It’s billed as the “largest RV show ever” and could be an AMAZING chance to get the word out there. I live (in a regular home, but want to go tiny) about 20 minutes from there. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
Sigh…
I’m Deaf. I need captioning in order to watch videos.
I’m also a Tiny House fan who dreams of the day when she can (LEGALLY) live in her own tiny house.
Please…when making videos of this type, consider the importance of Equal Communication Access and CAPTION your videos.
And by captioning, I mean actually adding captions to your video, not relying on that crappy auto-caption program at YouTube that does a horrible job at trying to decipher the soundtrack and convert it into text. That program is the pits and I wish YouTube would just get rid of it since it doesn’t really work.
And please…don’t pull hearing rank on me and give me this “if we had the time, the money and the resources” excuse. If you truly care about accessibility, you will MAKE the time, and you will FIND the resources. And there’s actually very little money involved, since there are apps out there that can caption your videos for free.
Just do it.
Thank you.
Totally agree with you! All videos on the Internet need to be captioned by the people who make them. It’s just common courtesy. Not everyone can hear well or at all. Thanks for raising this issue.
Brad Darby Kittle really opened my eyes to the tiny home quality especially in quality of materials and building standards. I am so glad they are imposing standards for building tiny homes. No standards of construction means inexperienced or everyday people turned builders could be making unsafe living conditions ! No one wants their house to: flood / catch on fire etc because the plumbing or electrical weren’t done right or their new home falling apart because of the poor quality of construction/materials. My biggest issue with houses on wheels is the weight and heaviness while taking sharp turns and if there are heavy winds will the house be stable? There could be issues . I am in no means against the movement I am just worried about safety of others . In the past 5 years have lived in spaces the size of: 400, 500, 750 & 840 square feet, less can be more in material possessions, however that’s not the case with peoples safety.
Isn’t government intrusion into everthing the whole problem? The government tells you what you can do on your own “private” property, its a joke, there is no private property. You basically just lease it from the government through property taxes. People should take responsibility for their own safety. If I want to live in a tiny home or a run down shack that’s my business, not some beurocrat. We’ve become a nation of irresponsible children who need a nanny to guide us through our every move.
Late comment, but you hit the nail right on the head. You do not own your land, the United States of America does. You will die, but the nation endures. While you live you pay tribute to the tribal leader (Donald Trump, as of this writing) and he doles back the tribute to his supporters, and takes it away from his political enemies. Its a story as old as humanity. Well, as old as tribes and nations anyway. Read: Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. And the Dictators Handbook. See the world as it is, not how you want it to be.
Every law or code on the book is designed in some way to benefit the people who wrote it, be it the industry in question ( the building industry, the manufactured housing industry, etc). So basically the tiny house movement needs to get political, ie hire lobbyists, create laws that protect itself, and write “codes” for tiny houses. Frankly, I don’t see that happening. The government naturally wants to push you towards a box that benefits itself, ie , either rent an apartment that the landlord pays property taxes on, ie, you actually pay the taxes in your rent. Or, buy a house that you pay property taxes on, that you also likely took out a big loan to pay for. You are actually creating money when you take out that loan, the bank doesn’t take it from its deposits, it simply creates that “new money” with a few keystrokes. So why would the government want to change that? Consumer debt is ultimately the engine that fuels the economy. So what’s the solution? This:
Get over your cute tiny house problem. Seriously. Get. Over. It. Not legal. Buy some cheap land. Anywhere. Buy a cheap, but legal trailer home. Built after 1976. HUD certified, inspected in the factory. That is all the government cares about, was it inspected in the factory. DO NOT buy a Park Model. They are RIVA certified and only legal in a mobile home park, in which you pay rent. Put in a septic system, cause Uncle Sam hates, hates, hates composting toilets. Get inspected, get your certificate of occupancy. DO NOT REMODEL IT YET, get your certificate first, it doesn’t matter how ugly it is, THEY DO NOT CARE. THEN: gut your ugly trailer, build it out the way you want. Make it as big or as tiny as you want. Don’t need that back bedroom? Block it off, don’t use it so you don’t have to cool or heat it. Put in all new interior walls, more insulation. Simplify the plumbing. The government can’t stop you, cause its already legal. Get a composting toilet, Uncle Sam will not check up on whether or not you are using your expensive septic system, he just wants to inspect it and make sure its there. Live cheaply. Take advantage of everything in society that is free. Free cellphones (people are constanly “upgrading” and throwing away perfectly good phones), free computers ( get an old laptop for cheap or free from a less intelligent friend), put Linux on it, so you pay no Apple or Microsoft tax), eat free food, watch free tv and listen to free radio. Download your “other” entertainment off youtube and dailymotion for free at the library on your Linux laptop. Don’t buy shit you don’t need. Wash your clothes less, they will last longer. Buy a cheap old but reliable car. ie, a Toyota. Pay your taxes, live your life, and accept that one day you too will die, but the nation will endure. Maybe.
At least eight million households (so, around 20 million people) fell victim to The Great Recession (TGR) that resulted in foreclosures, and many of those people were in vulnerable jobs that were wiped out – forever, if they were older than about 40. Tens of millions more were forced out of rental homes when they lost their jobs, and many are still living with family or friends, in jobs (if they’re lucky enough to be able to find work) that will never allow them to make enough to afford a mortgage.
Tens of millions of millenials are also winding up in similar situations, burdened by student debts that will never be paid off due to their inability to earn enough, let alone be able to afford a mortgage. If they’re able to find a job, it most likely won’t lead to a long-term career with one company, or even in one business sector. That means they’ll need to be mobile, and a tiny home on wheels (THoW) will be just the ticket to allow them to follow where there’s work.
The bloating of homes to well over 3,000 square feet, on average, is completely unsustainable and, as the number of Boomers retiring increases every year over the next couple of decades, the number of homes going on the market is going to cause another meltdown in real estate prices, especially in the least-desirable areas in the Frost and Ice Belts in the Northeast, Midwest, and Mountain West. Retirees will be stuck in homes they can’t sell, assuming their values have even recovered from being underwater due to TGR – no moving to the South or Southwest for them.
Tiny homes are rapidly becoming an economic necessity for the above reasons, and people will be more than happy to have one in which to live. They won’t be under the thumb of landlords seeking to raise rents at every opportunity, will massively reduce pressure on natural and infrastructural resources, and will have the freedom to relocate to better opportunities in terms of location and/or financial factors. The booms in house price appreciation are going to finally collapse in an even bigger heap than occurred during TGR, and anyone who will be in a THoW will be able to take advantage of the cratered prices, picking over the best of the carcasses, while the remainder of the aging junk are plowed under.
The mobility of THoWs will also create a true market where owners will be able to vote with their wheels, finally freed from the giant boat anchors of enormous mortgages, taxes, fees, and infrastructure costs associated with the McMansions that are going to become oversized dinosaurs in the not-too-distant future. Don’t like the lead pipes in your water supply that will never be economical to replace – just move to where there aren’t any. Want to live in the best neighborhood with the finest schools – relocate to where they are. The vagaries of the job market have you seeking work elsewhere – no problem, you _can_ take it with you.
The future’s so bright, we’ve gotta wear shades …