On May 24th, there was a news report on KION Channel 5/46 in the Santa Cruz area of California on tiny houses. Since I am so interested in this topic, I decided to watch it. Basically, the report started out saying that tiny houses are not easy to put anywhere. It is totally legal to have one built, but the problem comes when one tries to park it somewhere.
The challenge with tiny houses and where to park them actually starts with state building codes. Cities have their own criteria for housing and what they will allow and not allow. The basic problem with tiny houses is not the size. Unfortunately, it has to do with the fact that they are on wheels and not on a foundation. I still have to do research on the “foundation” issue because I am not totally convinced that it has nothing to do with size. Many communities do not want tiny housing communities because they fear it will cause their property values to decline.
The problem in California has to do with California Code of Regulations, Title 25, Housing and Community Development. I just downloaded this Code of Regulations, and it is a whopping 922 Pages long!!! WHEW! Now I am going to have to read this jargon and try to explain where all the problems lay. Then I am going to have to try and figure out a way to streamline this and get the City Councils to adopt different regulations for tiny houses.
In the meantime, before I go to read 922 pages, I want you to know that there are several places that have figured out a way to make these tiny house villages work. For example, Fresno, California has recently adopted new regulations that make it legal to build/or own a tiny house, and also makes it legal to park. Again, I have a lot of research to do on Fresno to try and understand the process to accomplish this.
It also turns out that San Jose, California is looking at changing its local Coding to allow for tiny houses to solve the homeless problem in San Jose. Again, I have a lot of research to do.
Santa Cruz, California, where I live, is also beginning to examine the possibility of tiny houses to solve the homeless and the veteran problems. I am definitely jumping on this band wagon! If you have read my previous articles, I have incredible drive to see about changing the Code of Regulations to encompass tine house villages for homeless veterans. And also for other veterans that may need housing. I also think this would be a fantastic idea to solve the homeless problem.