Dive Brief:

• The city of Seneca, MO, is considering joining the ranks of a number of cities and building departments around the U.S. creating "tiny house" ordinances in response to the growing popularity of the microliving spaces.
• The city ordinance would require that tiny house builders follow the same inspection guidelines as builders of regular-sized houses in order to prevent people from living in sheds or mobile units that current ordinances don’t allow.
• Seneca officials said they are waiting for feedback from other cities with tiny house ordinances to determine when the ordinance would go into effect

Dive Insight:

Tiny houses are a growing trend, and business owners in Seneca are hoping that the addition of tiny homes to its housing ordinances will create more opportunities for residents to build a home of their own, as well as encourage more people to move to the city.

Rockledge, FL, Sonoma County, CA, and the state of Idaho have all recently addressed the issue of tiny houses in some way in their building codes and zoning laws, and Seneca business owner Eric Lofland said a small home makes sense in certain situations.

"Some people don't need the same space that everyone needs," Lofland told fourstateshomepage.com. "If you are single or a husband and wife with no kids, they might not need much room and, utilities go up the bigger the house. The more air you're heating and cooling."

Despite the rising popularity of tiny houses, building code restrictions have slowed their growth in certain areas.

The American Tiny House Association said there are several ways to make a town more tiny-house friendly, including streamlining the permitting process, establishing "no minimum square foot" zones for tiny houses on foundations, and eliminating maximum stays at RV parks.