City Officials Turn To Tiny Homes To Help With Affordable Housing Crisis
Residents in Salt Lake are divided over embracing tiny homes in their neighborhood, also referred to as Mother-In-Law apartments or dwellings.
The city council might soon be looking to make some changes, tackling the question of who can live or what can be built on your own private property. They are considering making some changes in permitting residents there to have tiny home structures on their property, but not everyone in the community is happy about it.
One of those residents who is in favor of the change, John Armstrong, says that he wants his 72 year old mother to be able to build a home on his property and live in a tiny home. At the moment, she lives on her own and she doesn't need the space that she has now he says, she wants to be closer to the family now.
However, he says that right now her only option available would be to move far away in order to find something affordable. That's why he wants to be able to build a tiny home on his own property for her to live in, one that is going to be roughly a 600-square-foot residence.
At the moment, restrictive zoning laws currently permit them from designing this sort of arrangement for their lives with their own property. But tomorrow that might change if city council decides to make the adjustments to allow those dwellings to exist.
It's alleged that some of the older and more affluent neighborhoods are the ones who have been more vocal about the council making such changes.
Opponents don't want to see the tiny homes around their area, they are worried about them being rented out, bringing more parking to the area, and other issues. And because of the push-back, it's expected that lawmakers will only make the changes to permit other areas to allow the tiny homes. Perhaps several years in the future, they might once again come back to the issue and the topic of possibly extending that freedom to more regions.
You can currently find many tiny home communities scattered in numerous states around the US, including California, Michigan, Texas, Florida, and elsewhere.
As many people not only around the US, but in various countries around the world, continue to struggle to find affordable housing options, it's prompted an increasing number of them to consider tiny homes. The tiny home option is one that allows them to become a property owner at a much more affordable price point.
Tiny homes vary in price and you can find anything from $1,500 DIY projects up to $20,000 or more to purchase one. There are a wide variety of them already available on the market today; cost-effective and space-efficient. Unfortunately for some though who might be interested in building one on their property, they might be surprised to find that they don't have the freedom to do that. For some residents in Salt Lake City though, that's likely to change this week.
Pics:
Pixabay
Sources:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/12/03/not-in-my-neighbors-backyard-salt-lake-city-leaders-give-in-to-east-sides-opponents-on-mother-in-law-apartments/
https://www.parkrecord.com/news/summit-county/could-tiny-homes-ease-park-citys-employee-housing-shortage/
http://fox13now.com/2017/09/17/salt-lake-city-council-to-consider-zoning-changes-for-structures-including-tiny-houses/
Related Posts:
Landowners Helping Tiny Home Owners Find A Place To Call Their Own
Tiny Houses Enabling The Poor To Become Homeowners
https://steemit.com/tinyhomes/@doitvoluntarily/tiny-houses-enabling-the-poor-to-become-home-owners
We have a new tiny home transitional housing community in North Denver. I am interested to reach out and meet with the organizers and residents to see how things are going.
It's a very good project of these tiny houses. Such a pity that we don't have it here:(((( Our people prefer to rent a house or appartement and not to buy a small one. That's cos our building companies want to get more money... and people have no choice.
I would also live in the tiny house:)
As more people wake up they will have to give in. We all have to make our voices heard. Not by ballots. Not by bullets. By removing our consent and making our presence known. #Agora #Anarchy #Action!
We are seeing these type of small home developments here in Washington. The companies building these homes are making a killing. Packing so many homes into only a few acres of land. Houses are like 10 feet apart. You could probably smell your neighbors farts.
You are conflating tiny homes with mother-in-law apartments. A tiny home is a stand-alone unit that is not part of a larger dwelling.
A mother-in-law apartment is an extension to a larger home. Typically it would be a basement or second story that is partitioned internally from the home, has a separate entrance, and can be rented out as an individual unit.
I live in Salt Lake City. The arguments about changing neighborhood characteristics or affordable housing are a sideshow to distract from the real issues. In the neighborhoods under discussion, there is already an extreme shortage of parking. Public transit to those areas is very limited. Allowing mother-in-law apartments increases the urban density and puts strain on neighborhoods that can ill afford it.
Since most dwellings are not suitable for adding mother-in-law apartments (which require a separate kitchen), they make virtually no impact on the affordable housing situation. The solution to affordable housing would be to require every approved multi-housing development to have some percentage of units be affordable housing.
Currently this is only a requirement in areas that are already lower income. Making this a requirement in all areas (especially the ritzy upper east side) would have a much larger impact on the affordable housing issues and balance out some of the demographic and opportunity disparities in the city.
the mother in law ADU can be attached or detached and both are considered a "tiny home" residence
Okay, I reread the source articles, and the confusion between tiny homes and mother-in-law apartments is not yours but the news sources. The regulation being discussed covers both mother-in-law units and tiny homes built on the same property as an existing home. It does not cover tiny home neighborhoods or new developments.
News sources are pulling in the tiny home arguments and highlighting those because they make a more interesting story than mother-in-law apartments.
mother in law ADU can be attached or detached so that is why they might also be referred to as a tiny home which they technically are 👍😂
A detached ADU would be a tiny home, an attached would not. Unless your definition of tiny home is based on square footage only, in the which case any studio apartment below a certain size would also be a 'tiny home'.
And that’s why I don’t live in a city
Funny, living in a small town I'm annoyed tiny houses are illegal.
Well, all the baby boomers decided they wanted their house prices to go up and up. So they put in effects that everything had to built bigger. Nothing that might destroy housing prices should be built, ever.
But now, they have basically shut all of the young people out of home ownership.
They have left their kids saddled with the national debt, student debt, unfunded liabilities, no jobs (cause they let them all go overseas) and HOUSING PRICES THAT ARE MORE THAN MOST MILLENIALS WILL SEE IN THEIR LIVES
Salt lake seems to be beautiful place. pics are awesome keep sharing nice stuff @doitvoluntarily ressteemed & upvoted
I think tiny homes are great idea. I've seen several TV shows that are all about tiny homes and they seem pretty cool..
I thinks is awesome to have tiny homes for the less fortunate whom can't afford the high price of realistate. Great idea