"What The US' Tiny House Movement Could Mean For Sustainable Living"
Cheaper, sustainable and with the potential to radically overhaul our broken housing market: it's time to talk about the Tiny House Movement.
At a time when the average first-time buyer needs a mortgage deposit higher than their yearly salary, it's clear there are no signs the housing crisis I've grown up with is going to end anytime soon. Housing – especially for under 35s working in cities, who can't rely on family money to help set them up – has become more than a problem. It's a disaster.
Proposed solutions for creating genuinely affordable homes, which come with a level of security lacking in the current climate, are lacking. Factor in that we need places to live that support a shift to sustainable living (more urgent in the time of Trump and his desire to pull the world's second largest producer of carbon emissions out of the Paris Climate Agreement than ever) and Tiny Houses feel like increasingly viable alternatives.
In the US, the movement is gaining traction. Tiny Houses here are typically between 60 and 400 square feet, quick to heat and often mobile, allowing freedom of where to live. While the average American home generates around 28,000 pounds of CO2 each year, the average Tiny House generates around 2,000 pounds. They run on less water, are easy to install with solar panels and encourage owners to live in a more intentional way. (When space is so limited, the lure of another trinket is pretty much removed.) Read more:
At a time when the average first-time buyer needs a mortgage deposit higher than their yearly salary, it's clear there are no signs the housing crisis I've grown up with is going to end anytime soon. Housing – especially for under 35s working in cities, who can't rely on family money to help set them up – has become more than a problem. It's a disaster.
Proposed solutions for creating genuinely affordable homes, which come with a level of security lacking in the current climate, are lacking. Factor in that we need places to live that support a shift to sustainable living (more urgent in the time of Trump and his desire to pull the world's second largest producer of carbon emissions out of the Paris Climate Agreement than ever) and Tiny Houses feel like increasingly viable alternatives.
In the US, the movement is gaining traction. Tiny Houses here are typically between 60 and 400 square feet, quick to heat and often mobile, allowing freedom of where to live. While the average American home generates around 28,000 pounds of CO2 each year, the average Tiny House generates around 2,000 pounds. They run on less water, are easy to install with solar panels and encourage owners to live in a more intentional way. (When space is so limited, the lure of another trinket is pretty much removed.) Read more:
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