WebStamp May 22, 2017

Tiny House Communities -Structure

We have seen in previous articles (see list below) how we could incorporate tiny house communities (THC) into a standard city lot(s). We can see that with the cost savings of having a smaller lot we can develop more affordable housing.Even though the city is permitting backyard suites, commonly referred to as garage/garden suites, or laneway homes, we still have the issue of owning a smaller lot. A possible solution, using current bylaws, is to establish a co-operative on owning the land between tiny house homeowners.

Tiny House Village Oregan

This approach would be better than living in a condo or trailer park for all homeowners would be involved in all property concerns, instead of a few speaking for many. We should also consider establishing certain rules for the co-operative to be effective. Each homeowner should be contributing to property maintenance fees and have an equal vote in the decision making of maintaining the property.These fees can vary depending on the services hired agreed upon by the homeowners and contributing to a rainy-day fund.

We would be developing a new group that differs from a condo board or landlord. We could use condo board regulations as a basis to work from, and strip out many of those that relate to voting and membership. These altered regulations would definitely result in much lower maintenance costs for the landowners.

With all the recent flood concerns in the city, another benefit of mobile tiny home communities comes to mind. If we built wheeled tiny house communities in the empty lots where the flood damaged houses of the 2013 flood were torn down we could always move the homes quickly in times of extremely flooding and preventing a lot of damage. Another advantage of a wheeled tiny house is that they are over a foot off the ground, and no flooded basement to worry about.

There are many small pockets of land that could also be utilized for housing, especially in flood zones, where building a structure is not suitable. A wheeled tiny house would be perfect to able to create additional space for housing without expanding the city’s ecological footprint. Many empty lots could also be utilized for THC. Land owners that are not currently using empty lots should be encouraged to establish temporary THC until the land is utilized.

Next issue we will look at the many different varieties of tiny houses. From the very tiny, 100 Sq. Ft. to very large tiny houses of around 600+ Sq. Ft. for those wanting to live in luxury. There are permanent structure tiny houses, movable ones, and mobile (wheeled) varieties.

What are your thoughts on tiny houses? Could you live in a tiny house? What question do you have about tiny house living? If you are looking to downsize and looking to get rid of your mortgage, then join the movement to make a difference to how we live. See you next issue.

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Articles in this Issue
As Spring encourages renewal and birth, many more of Canada’s Sesquicentennial Celebrations also begin to blossom. The upgrading of Olympic Plaza with the Canada 150 logo indicates that Calgary is a big part of it, with many events and activities happening right here in Calgary.
Even though the city is permitting backyard suites, commonly referred to as garage/garden suites, or laneway homes, we still have the issue of owning a smaller lot. A possible solution, using current bylaws, is to establish a co-operative on owning the land between tiny house homeowners.
Marinus (René) Verschuren
Marinus (René) Verschuren
Founder of WebStamp
René has been involved in the publishing and printing industry since the 1970s. He has published and distributed a successful 24-page weekly news advertiser with a circulation of 4400 copies. Also for the last 20 years, he has been a printer, plotter, scanner and 3D printer technician and installer. Since High School, he also has worked as a janitor, cabinet maker, building construction, landscaper/designer, computer operator producing microfiche, graphic artist, and webmaster, among other professions, qualifying him as a Jack-of-All-Trades.