Tiny-house movement
The movement's core involves living full time in a very low floor area building, either fixed or mobile.
[15] After two decades, some have noted that part of the appeal is for niche applications such as getting views on social media for interesting or shocking design, and once concern is that the concept has been over-hyped thus generating unrealistic expectations.
[13] One of the differences between the tiny house movement and previous small living spaces is that they can actually have a higher cost per area than larger homes.
[24][25][26] The modern movement is considered to have started in the 1970s, with artists such as Allan Wexler investigating the idea of contemporary compact living.
[22] Jay Shafer, another pioneer of the tiny-house movement, began working on his first tiny house — measuring 110 sq ft (10 m2) — in Iowa in 1997; it was completed in 1999.
[32][33] With the Great Recession affecting the economy of the United States from 2007 to 2009, the tiny-house movement gained more traction due to its perceived affordability and environmentalist nature.
At the event, Shafer suggested promoting ethical business practices and offering guidelines for the construction of tiny houses on wheels.
[28] See also mobile home, recreational vehicle (RV), Campervan, Caravan or Travel trailer, Truck camper, studio apartment, tent city.
[44] Tiny houses on wheels are considered RVs and are not suitable for permanent residence, according to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association.
[65] Some lower court decisions in the U.S. have struck down zoning laws related to size, which pose an obstacle to tiny housing.
[73] Judge Callaghan found in favor of Dall's argument that his home was not a building, ruling the council and MBIE to have erred in saying it was.
With their low cost and relatively easy construction, tiny houses have been adopted as shelters for the homeless in Eugene, Oregon; Olympia, Washington; Ithaca, New York; and other cities.
[94][95] More informal efforts to build tiny homes for homeless communities had been made in the past by citizens in Los Angeles,[96][97] but were ultimately seized by the city due to concerns over sanitation.
About 40% of the funding for these projects has come from philanthropic donations, and while the homes are usually less expensive, it can take time to work through bureaucratic and legal hurdles, in particular to have accountability that they are a humane living space.
[108] One of these steps also includes governmental intervention in establishing sanitary and safe spaces for the homeless in order to prevent further environmental destruction.
[114] In the co-authored research article The Psychology of Home Environments, it's argued that the drive behind the tiny house movement is centered around desires of modesty and conservation, in addition to environmental consciousness, self-sufficiency, and wanting a life of adventure.
[115][irrelevant citation] In building tiny houses, there is often a misalignment between the needs of the occupant(s), and the expressed design from the creating team.
This reality is used as a call for architects and design teams to work with psychologists to build tiny homes that are better suited towards the needs of the occupant(s).
[117] In addition to costing less, small houses may encourage a less cluttered, simpler lifestyle, and reduce ecological impacts for their residents.
Small houses may emphasize design over size,[120] utilize dual purpose features and multi-functional furniture, and incorporate technological advances of space saving equipment and appliances.
The advent of NIMBY-ism occupied much of community organizing and housing advocacy dialogue in the 1980s, so much that some coined it "the populist political philosophy of the 1980s.
In effect, community resistance to housing advocacy and affordability measures further exacerbates the dwindling number of public resources and social services available to vulnerable and displaced homeless persons.
Some critics have argued that, similar to other forms of anti-homelessness legislation, tiny home villages are fundamentally carceral, designed to push its tenants into less public spaces near city outskirts in an effort to marginalize homeless people rather than provide long-term stability.
Tiny homes threaten increased grid defection because of their inherently low energy demands as a result of their small size.
Their customized builds and smaller energy demand often result in the ability to sustain a tiny house entirely on rooftop photovoltaics such as roof-mounted solar panels.
This has become especially prominent due to the continuously decreasing price of solar panels and batteries, and tiny homes have become notable as an example of an existing and commercially available alternative off-grid option for housing.
Grid-tie inverters are of academic interest and are being studied by utilities for their impacts and potential benefits to voltage regulation, infrastructure implications, protection schema requirements, economics, and optimum policy regarding integration for implementation into the electrical grid with the rise of distributed generation, namely residentially supplied solar power.
[139] Despite the size, the mobile dwelling had many functional if limited features, including bed, bathing, stove, windows, waste management, and was listed on AirBnB (a room rental company) in the late 2010s.
In Hong Kong small 4 ft2 sleeping areas can be rented for example, and in Tokyo the idea of capsule hotels.
[147] In Romania, the MuMa Hut by WeWilder is recognized as tiny home and is 15 m2, designed chiefly by architect Miodrag Stoianov and set in orchard.
