Tiny House Communities DO Exist
I read this article this morning and it kind of peeved me off.
I’ve talked about tiny houses and the problems that I have with them before. You can read those articles here:
Today’s article decided that the lack of tiny house communities wasn’t the fault of city planners. It was greedy land developers. When given a choice between building tiny houses and selling them to hippies and renting them to the rich, they choose the vacation property choice every time.
Greed… That’s why there are no tiny home communities? Umm… no.
The fact is, tiny home communities DO exist. We call them mobile home parks.
Mobile homes are tiny. They are portable. They are efficient designs that are very affordable. Why have the tiny house proponents overlooked them?
Because hippies don’t live in them, rednecks do.
Hippies are too good to park their homemade tiny homes in a mobile home park because that’s where the lower classes live. They don’t want to admit that their choice to simplify looks an awful lot like just being poor.
No tiny house communities? Not even in the mecca of tiny homes, Portland, Oregon? Not so! I counted TEN mobile home communities in the heart of Portland.
Now, these might be mobile home communities that have certain restrictions on the size of the homes they allow in their park, so I checked the second mobile home on the list, Mobile Estates. I chose this one because a reviewer on Inside Pages called it, “a scumbag haven.” Of course, another reviewer said, “They have a lot of older mobile homes here. they have been here for a longtime. the park is clean. the people are nice. it is easy to find. stop by and see.” They sound like the kind of park that might be willing to have a tiny house on their property, so I looked at it up close and personal on Google Maps.
If they are willing to let a fifth wheel stay there, I’m sure they’d be ecstatic to have a DIY tiny home that looks like a little cabin. Why haven’t the hippies in Portland just JUMPED on this opportunity? Because “scumbags” live there.
Stop whining about city planners, vacation rentals and McMansions. There are tiny home communities all around you and you don’t even see them because you consider them unwashed masses. We poor folks have been living tiny for a lot longer than you hippies. You might actually LEARN something from us if you didn’t consider us beneath your notice.
I have a tiny house and tried to find an RV park or mobile home park to stay in but was turned down by most of them because the house wasn’t built by a licensed manufactured home builder.
A regular mobile home is manufactured by a licensed manufactured home company and conforms to specific, practical standards regarding room and door width and height, materials used, etc. Normally, cheap materials are used and the homes are not expected to last more than 20 to 30 years, which is why so many mobile home parks have rules about the age of homes they accept, and why loans are shorter in term than a conventional house.
Mobile home manufactures and mobile home park owners are profit-oriented. Mobile home parks generally make the sites as small as possible to maximize their profits. That being said, however, there are some mobile home parks that are organized as co-ops and are run by residents for residents.
Tiny homes (IMHO) are built with quality materials, often natural and often recycled. They are frequently designed and built by their owners with an eye to aesthetics and are often intended to last as long as possible. Tiny house owners want to live on a space that is comfortably sized. Some want gardens that are larger than mobile home parks will support and pets or farm animals that mobile home parks don’t allow. Tiny house owners typically want to reduce their consumption and minimize their impact on the environment.
Mobile homes and mobile home parks provide affordability and convenience.
Tiny houses and tiny house communities provide quality of workmanship and materials, beauty of design, and an eco-friendly livestyle.
It sounds like you’re angry at people who value beauty over practicality. Those folks may be rich in spirit but many are just as poor in monetary terms as the average mobile home park resident.
Comment by Elaine — 1/10/2013 @ 6:43 am
You might take note I also took exception to the No tiny house communities issue. Pointed out real tiny house communities and where more are being built. Took a very different view of the subject than you did having lived in a true “Tiny House” 136sq ft. with 56sq ft sleeping loft for several years. A Mobile home park is not a “Tiny House” community very few mobile homes meet the quality of construction,craftsmanship,quality of insulation,materials,etc. of the tiny houses of subject. Besides a single wide being 4 to 5 times larger than a tiny house mounted on a trailer that you can tow behind a 3/4 ton and not need a road permit. Can you do that with a Mobile home rolled into a mobile home park? Nothing wrong with mobile home parks or those that choose or need to live in them.However I have learned one thing from your ill informed diatribe and that is I would not desire to live in a mobile home park. Thanks
Comment by Robert — 1/11/2013 @ 11:08 pm
I think it’s interesting that you’re saying “hippies”, as far as I can tell, the small house movement is mostly yuppies who are fed up with the system. most of them seem to have left well paying, professional jobs for living the tiny life. I myself am all for the small house movement – I think it is the answer to many problems, as long as the costs remain low. but I am already starting to see a trend where tiny houses are going for $100,000 or more. Sad.
Comment by Tiny Houses Hankerings — 2/1/2013 @ 10:30 pm
When you leave your well paying job for living the tiny life, you are no longer a yuppie. You then become a hippie.
Comment by Laura Moncur — 2/3/2013 @ 12:38 pm