06/15/2023
I created the document below to present to planning. Moveable Tiny House Park Land Use Category Proposal Planning and elected representatives please feel free to offer advice to make it better. I lost the formatting when posting on FB. I could not figure out how to load a PDF
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I would like to propose that the Roanoke County Planning Department create a Tiny House Park land use designation for moveable tiny houses between 200 and 400 sq feet.
Why Tiny Houses?
There is an exponentially growing, demand for MTH’s or Moveable Tiny Homes. The major obstacle is securing legal places to park the tiny home. While there are places in the US that allow MTH’s like Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, there is no designated land use category for MTH’s. A designated land use category would establish parameters for Tiny House Parks such as density of units per amount of land, etc.
Tiny houses look and feel like real houses, unlike modular homes or RV’s.
They have the same finishes and follow the same building codes (with a few modifications, see appendix Q of the IRC) that traditionally constructed homes do.
They can be certified by NOAH National Organization of Alternative Housing or the RVIA Recreational Vehicle Association.
Unlike modular home parks and RV parks, MTH parks or villages tend to be charming and inviting, if planned appropriately a tiny House park will not negatively effect nearby real estate values.
In the event of a natural disaster MTH’s can be moved
MTH’s are great for traveling nurses and can be moved if the owner of the home needs to move for job or other personal reasons.
Tiny Houses are affordable, so many people don’t want to be at the mercy of the rental market.
Pride of ownership is a big draw for tiny house owners
The upkeep and utility costs for tiny houses is much less than, not only houses but the average apartment.
MTH’s can be secured, skirted, and have a deck like a foundation built home.
Tiny House Demographics: What is a MTH, and who is living in Them?
The information below gives a statistical picture of the tiny house trend. The information below was taken from “Top 35 Tiny Home Statistics and Facts of 2023.” Report Link: https://todayshomeowner.com/eco-friendly/guides/tiny-home-statistics-and-facts/ #:~:text=There are more than 10,000,than the average U.S. citizen.
Tiny House Statistics
The average size of a tiny home ranges from 100 to 400 square feet — six times smaller than an average house.
There are more than 10,000 tiny homes in the United States.
The average cost of a tiny home is $52,000, 87% cheaper than the average price of a typical U.S. home.
More than 80% of tiny house owners have less debt than the average U.S. citizen.
Approximately two out of five tiny homeowners are older than 50 years of age.
55% of tiny house owners are women.
As you can see by these stats retirees, and more specifically older women who may have been out of the workforce for many years raising children, are in need of affordable housing that a MTH in a THP would provide. People want the dignity of home ownership without the huge mortgage and upkeep of a traditional home.
Tiny Home Trends and Affordability
The tiny homes market size is estimated to have a compound annual growth rate of 4.88% between 2022 and 2027.
The size of the tiny house market is forecast to grow another $4.17 million by 2027.
North America is projected to contribute 57% of the growth in tiny homes by 2027.
Tiny houses are recognized as the most affordable housing system, preferred especially by millennials.
56% of Americans would live in a tiny home, given the opportunity.
68% of tiny house owners don’t have a mortgage, compared to 29.3% of all U.S. homeowners.
55% of tiny house owners have more savings than the average American.
32% of tiny house owners have more than $10,000 saved for retirement.
Most Appealing Factors of Tiny Home
Table: Today's Homeowner Source: IPX1031 Embed
Affordability, efficiency, eco-friendliness, and a minimal lifestyle are the top reasons why Americans would like to live in a tiny home.
Demographics of People Living in Tiny Homes
We’re learning more about tiny homebuyers and the characteristics of people that choose to live in a tiny house community.
Tiny house owners are twice as likely to hold a Master’s degree.
The average annual income of people who live in tiny homes is $42,038.
78% of tiny homeowners own their own home compared to 65% of traditional homeowners.
Approximately two out of five tiny home owners are over the age of 50, two out of five are between the ages of 30 and 50, and around one in five are under the age of 30.
The Moveable Tiny House Park land use designation, would seek to remove barriers to MTH living such as:
Making vacant affordable land like Ag, unrestricted land, or infill city lots easily rezoned for this new land use designation.
MTH requirements such as sq footage, and exterior design parameters such as skirting and decking requirements would be defined to insure a quality of development that would insure nearby real estate would not lose value.
How many MTH’s can be placed on a specific sized lot
What the setbacks should be?
Creating and defining the Moveable Tiny House Park land use designation would create not only affordable housing, but pride of ownership, and with no decrease in nearby property values. Roanoke County would the first in the country to create this designation.
Security for homeowners would be established by Tiny House parks where the land is owned as a cooperative, this is not a new concept, their are mobile home parks throughout the US the are owned by the residents. The residents vote on the management of the park and own shares in the land, which they can sell if they decide to move.
We need new and innovative ways of living that address the cultural and economic factors we currently face. Mainly these are the corporate ownership of single family homes, rising interest rates, rising housing prices, the lack of small manageable homes for retirees who are downsizing and millennials who can’t get their foot in the door of the housing market. Many retirees are still working past retirement age, many people don’t have the energy left to take care of the average sized property, many desire a minimalist lifestyle having places to park tiny MTH’s would create “right sized,” housing for the growing population of those who need and desire it.
