Cleveland tiny house 'experiment' unveils first completed homes

Dive Brief:

Citizens Tiny House Experiment officials announced that their first two Cleveland tiny houses are complete, WKYC reported.
The near-600-square-foot houses include two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living area and a kitchen on the first floor and a loft on the second. Officials said the homes also feature energy-efficient systems and were built with "green building standards" in mind.
Officials said the tiny house project, located in Cleveland's ecoVillage, is meant to be an example of a more sustainable way of increasing housing density and utilizing vacant lots, as well as a way to provide options to empty nesters, millennials or anyone else who doesn't need or want a standard-sized home.

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One of the homes will go up for sale on Sept. 1, while the other will begin hosting brief rental stays. Citizens Bank contributed $155,000 toward construction and will offer a mortgage for the for-sale home, as well as any future tiny houses in the development.

The tiny house trend is continuing to gain momentum, largely due to a shift in zoning regulations combined with a dire need for housing in much of the country. In fact, pint-sized homes are becoming so popular that cities are fighting over the title of tiny home capital of the U.S.

The Savannah-Chatham Homeless Authority in Savannah, GA, recently announced that it spent $208,000 on a piece of land it will develop into a tiny house community for its homeless population. Reaction to that project was mostly positive, unlike that of Tallahassee, FL, residents who have actively protested against an $8 million tiny house development in their neighborhood. Although not intended specifically for the homeless, the low-income project has opponents concerned about what kind of residents the project will attract.

Zoning for tiny houses, however, has the potential to make the biggest impact on the industry's growth. In a major step forward for tiny houses, Pima County, AZ, officials announced plans to allow tiny houses with a foundation to be built anywhere that single-family homes are allowed to be built. The new zoning regulations also ease up on certain building code requirements that are not considered necessary for a tiny house. And Washington, DC, recently revised its accessory dwelling unit regulations so that many homeowners in the District's suburbs can build tiny houses in their backyards.