The Tiny House Movement Should Be so Much Better than It Is

An alternative housing solution that is scuppered by zoning, planning permission and lifestyle aspirations

Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash

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In 2015, I seriously looked into building a tiny home.

I had my heart set on one made from a couple of shipping containers. At the time I lived close to Tilbury Docks in Essex, UK, one of the biggest docks in the country. I visited every week to pick up my wine for my wine store. I love logistics and shipping (weird I know) so this errand was genuinely one of the highlights of my week. Thus, I loved the idea of repurposing a couple of containers from there into an affordable home.

Then the headaches started.

First, I had to find somewhere to put the thing. I wanted to buy a plot of land but that would set me back around $200k - more than a one-bedroomed apartment in the area - and it was highly unlikely I would ever gain planning permission to build on it.

I didn’t know anyone with a large backyard to put the house on - this was the UK, and most people have yards the size of postage stamps. And again, planning permission can be tricky, even when it’s your own land.

Then I looked into how much it would cost to renovate. I don’t have the skills to do the renovation myself, so it was going to set me back around $30k-$50k, or more.

This was supposed to be an out-the-box (as it were) way to own an affordable home and you’re telling me it was going to set me back nearly $250k, with no guarantee for planning permission?

As you can imagine, the plan fell apart.

My story is not unusual. On paper, tiny homes are brilliant (IMO) but in order to own one, the stumbling blocks are huge and often insurmountable.

The tiny house movement should be better than it is.

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Tiny homes are nothing new. Henry David Thoreau had his cabin in Walden. In the 1970s there were tiny home pioneers like author Lloyd Khan. Heck, even my own Grandad spent some time living in a horse-drawn caravan back in the 1940s.

The modern-day tiny home became really popular after the 2008 crash. You’ve probably seen them - a small abode on wheels that parks up in people’s backyards.

But there are not many of them about. It’s estimated that the whole of the US is home to just 10,000.

I can understand why.

For a start, those zoning rules don’t make it easy. As I say, in the UK it’s almost impossible to gain permission to build tiny homes on plots of land - the same goes for the US. I also looked into building one in Portugal where even a temporary structure - like a tiny house on wheels - can only stay in one place for a single year without planning permission.

It’s no wonder therefore that many people choose to put their tiny homes in their friends and family’s backyards. But not everyone has a backyard at their disposal. Others don’t want to live so close to family (I hear that). It keeps you at the whim of whosever backyard it is. What if they want to sell their home?

And then there’s the cost. Even though tiny houses can be cheap to build, they can still run into tens of thousands of dollars. And in relative terms, they’re not especially cheap to buy. According to this site, a tiny home costs around 62% more per square foot than a full-sized home (although I would question this stat - there’s a big difference between the cost of the square footage of New York and say Nebraska or Iowa).

Finally, there is the issue of aspirational tiny homes. I follow a few tiny home accounts on Instagram and what they show me is so much fancier - and more expensive - than any home I’ve ever lived in:

containerhouseadequate

A post shared by Container House Adequate (@containerhouseadequate)

tinyhomediy

A post shared by TINY HOMES | CABINS | DIY | OFFICIAL©️ (@tinyhomediy)

tiny_homess

A post shared by Tiny Homes🏠 (@tiny_homess)

Even tiny homes are at the mercy of lifestyle inflation. My cabin is bigger than yours. My deck is fancier than yours. My view is better than yours.

It detracts from what tiny homes are supposed to be about. An environmentally friendly and economical alternative to regular housing. Freedom. More disposable income.

None of which will be possible with a $200k outside living arrangement.

Or the insurance on that cliff-edge cabin…

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On a more positive note, tiny homes are in their infancy. They have only been part of the modern cultural zeitgeist for around 10-15 years which in the scheme of things is nothing.

There is hope for them yet, but there is also work to be done.

There needs to be a more nuanced, sympathetic approach to how local officials approach zoning and planning permission for tiny homes, especially those that are not on wheels. In England for instance, the hoops you have to jump through for approving a semi-permanent tiny home are similar to that of building a regular house.

It’s overkill.

We could work on how tiny homes are portrayed. They are not just for 24-year-old graphic designers living in their parent’s backyard or modern-day hippies. They can be viable housing solutions for just about anyone from families to older folk.

We need to recognize them for what they are - viable alternatives to the big modern home.

Maybe then, one day, I’ll actually get to live in that shipping container.

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Reading for the weekend

My latest Medium articles (paywall free)

• If Homeownership Is the Pinnacle of Success, Why Do so Many People Regret It?

• Worried You’re No Longer Passionate About Your Passion? It Might Just Be Taking a Little Break

• She Was Eight Months Pregnant When They Bundled Her into a Loudspeaker Cabinet and Loaded Her onto the Back of a Truck

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