From Zack Giffin Facebook Page
A fascinating thing has been happening. Tiny Homes and Moveable Homes, are finally starting to be included in top level conversations about developing solutions to the housing crisis. Advancements in construction techniques have demonstrated how homes can be built more efficiently, with higher quality standards and at far lower cost when they are built at a remote and controlled environment. The same regulatory hurdles that obstruct Tiny Homes on wheels, are limiting all sorts of new construction technologies that are also built modularly and meant for transport. While the country is in a massive affordable housing crisis we need to rethink zoning laws that impede the ability of the private sector to utilize new technologies to solve the problem. We can dump massive amounts of federal funding into building subsidized housing but nothing will have a greater effect on affordable housing than adjusting our outdated building and zoning codes. We have an industry ready to provide solutions, we have a society desperate for answers, all it takes is some common sense reform and amazingly that is an idea with increasing bipartisan support.
I think the current shift in momentum is the result of a movement of people who have been patiently committed to engaging in informative conversations and have maintained motivation despite long years of resistance. Up and down the west coast, tiny home friendly legislation has been passed and all of the recent zoning changes have truly taken years of exhaustive negotiation. As more and more changes happen it feels fantastic to be part of a tribe of people dedicated to advocating for laws that allow intentionally simplistic living. During this journey I have met many inspiring and passionate tiny house people and we have all contributed to the progress. Yet, some people deserve special recognition and few people have dedicated more of their time and done more to open minds than the producers of this video – Tiny House Expedition. I am truly lucky to call these two friends and we are all lucky that they are part of this special community.
If you are interested in following the progress of the tiny home movement or help us gain legal traction, go follow Tiny House Expedition’s YouTube page!
Zack Giffin Has Joined Our Board Of Directors!
Dr. Ben Carson
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Innovative Housing Showcase Opening Remarks
Washington, D.C., National Mall, June 1, 2019
Welcome, everyone, to the inaugural Innovative Housing Showcase!
he Purpose Of The Showcase: Increasing Affordability and Resiliency
What brings this incredible array of pioneers together this week is a joint mission to educate and inform America’s national conversation on housing policy. We believe the best way to galvanize people and policymakers toward a powerful vision of the future is to place that vision right in front of them – and show them what is truly possible.
The Showcase features state-of-the-art building technologies and housing solutions that can make home ownership more affordable for American families, and homes more resilient during natural disasters. In addition, there will be a wide array of exhibitions, prototype homes, panel discussions, and policy conversations with leaders across the housing industry over this five-day event.
Executive Order Establishing a White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing
These regulatory barriers impede our Nation’s economic growth. Hardworking American families struggle to live in markets where there is an insufficient supply of housing — even in markets generating a significant number of jobs. One recent study suggests that certain regulatory restrictions on housing supply have forced workers to live far away from high-productivity areas with the best available jobs, creating a geographic misallocation of labor between cities that may have decreased the annual economic growth rate in the United States by 36 percent between 1964 and 2009.
Article Source White House. Gov
Affordable Housing Efforts Threaten RV Industry May 23th, 2019
In an effort to increase affordable housing, some policymakers across the country have begun to look to tiny homes as a solution. Unfortunately, these efforts have led some legislators, officials and other interest groups to attempt to co-opt RV and PMRV standards and definitions to use them for permanent-use tiny home standards. Washington state was the most active in this effort this year.
Although both NFPA 1192 and ANSI A119.5 specifically state that these standards are for temporary-use vehicles, bills in Washington would have incorrectly defined all types of RVs and used the RV and PMRV standards to define permanent structures.