Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2008 · 355 posts · 324 votes
I have noted for a long time now that many Tiny Homes are not legal to live in full time. HUD made that somewhat clear in the past, but is making it more clear now. Regardless if your a fan of tiny homes, or not, these new rules will have impact. I live in Denver and the City has been building a 'Tiny Home Village' for the homeless. To be clear- not all Tiny Homes are created equal. Some are built to HUD specifications and they will not be impacted. Others though... The cool homes we see built out of shipping containers- are they HUD approved? I am not here to provide lots of facts but to open a discussion- Who does this help? Who does it hurt? Why does it matter? Should it matter? If the Federal Government says it can not be lived in full time, who reports on this stuff? Will zoning and regulations need to be adjusted to assure compliance? Who is held liable? Can I bounce between a RV and a tiny house legally? Can I live full time on my Boat that is not HUD approved? Geesh- my mind goes WILD with questions...
I've been an advocate and entrepreneur for tiny houses for the last couple of years. You're absolutely right on the issues regarding tiny houses and the lack of apparent code for these structures. I'm right in the middle of working to create a template community for tiny houses. I'm working to flush out all of these concerns WITH the governing bodies, to the degree where I'm working to identify a proper parcel of land and the remaining capital to pull it all together. I partnered with a third party inspection and certification company who has been successful in getting building officials to sign off on their processes that combine many IRC requirements and ANSI code.
I'm also working with the Tiny Home Industry Association, who is a group of diverse individuals, (https://www.tinyhomeindustryassociation.org/board-of-directors/) working to engage the appropriate regulatory bodies like the IRC, IBC, ANSI, NFPA, etc. to start developing tiny house specific code. If the [tiny house] industry is able to self-regulate and manage the quality of construction of these structures, there will be no need for HUD to step in, like it did in the infancy of the mobile home industry back in the early 1970's.
If you'd like to discuss further, I'm ALWAYS willing to discuss tiny houses!