Tiny Houses — Are they Revolutionary or not?
In the middle of July 2023. I took on a design challenge that month with one objective: to search for a feasible solution that could dampen the effects of homelessness. The brainstorming process was challenging since we were tasked to tackle a prevalent nationwide problem. It wasn’t until a team member posed the idea of implementing tiny houses as temporary shelters for the homeless. After immersing myself deeper into this topic, I was left astonished by the capabilities and potential of tiny houses.
So what are tiny houses?
Tiny houses have been here for decades with steady growth since the 1970s. They provide a sturdy, compact living space that combines the simple, comfy nature a regular house supplies. A typical tiny house has the bare essentials of a regular house: a living/sleeping area, bathroom, cooking area, and its supplies of running water. It must also follow the Ontario Building Code with a minimum square footage of 188 square feet (17.5 square meters).
Tiny homes are found sporadically across Ontario, being built on private property and public lots. You may even stumble upon a community of tiny houses, one of many scattered around the province! However, the topic of this particular housing is still relatively fresh and underused, as the majority are unaware of the crucial benefits that they can bring to the table.
So what are the perks?
Your wallet will definitely thank you! Estimates say that the cost of an average tiny home is about $67 thousand dollars, which is 87% cheaper than a normal-sized house. Many found that these tiny homes introduced a more simplistic way of life, especially after the severe COVID-19 pandemic. Many realized during quarantine that numerous commodities were not necessary in everyday life. Therefore, this caused an increase in transfers to these smaller living spaces to reduce the complexity of their regular houses. Being a powerful form of trauma-informed design, tiny houses can be the perfect getaway for people in houses in large cities by dumbing down their lifestyle and having a comfortably designed space.
What does it mean for our communities?
With Canada’s housing shortage, what better alternative is there for Canadians than to have a more affordable living option? Not only can they address the nationwide housing shortage, but also create a cheaper, affordable opportunity for the unhoused. Federal numbers suggest that the number of homeless individuals in Canada reaches up to 235, 000 people. However, if 2% of the 15 million Canadian homeowners incorporate a tiny home in their backyard, there would immediately be 300, 000 new housing units that could contribute to resolving the housing crisis.
There is more to love about tiny homes. In heavy urban centers, urban sprawl causes close-knit communities to expand outside of their local grids with single-use housing units. An alternative to combat urban sprawl is to increase the densities of our cities by filling up our missing middle housing with our trusty tiny homes. As more single-use houses are built, it creates less diverse mediums of housing that can be replaced with multi-use land per square acre. On the contrary, tiny homes create a feasible option for local communities to incorporate into their surroundings to prevent an outward expansion of cities, as well as a more environmentally friendly option.
With the tiny house movement in full gear in the early 2000s, — with the popularization caused by the Netflix show Tiny House Nation, there has been rapid growth in the minimalistic housing style. However, the consumer consumption of these quickly diminished with their high depreciation rates and various building restrictions outlined by local municipalities. Many cities have prevented the construction of tiny homes because municipalities refused, particularly due to being a “violation of building regulations,” leading to many project denials. Despite being a more environmentally sound alternative with a low carbon footprint, it still does not receive as much attention from the government or the public, seeing only 0.36% of the total residential listings.
Takeaways
Could our prevalent yet neglected housing crisis in our urban cities be treated like this? Although such a simple solution will not completely resolve the increasing housing prices nor will it abolish homeless forever. However, perhaps tiny houses provide a leap in the right direction to give our cities temporary options for attainable and available housing — homes for anyone and everyone to enjoy.
