The Tiny Home Alliance Canada is throwing their support behind a UBCM resolution brought forward by Councillor John French about tiny homes.
In a letter to the district, Leigh Bursey, the executive director of Tiny Home Alliance Canada said homes less than 500 square feet on wheels or on a permanent slab present a low-cost and a low impact alternative that currently isn’t legally available to locals in Squamish.
“You are uniquely positioned to be trailblazers among Canadian municipalities, and we want to support you in being the beacons of progressive change in affordable housing and affordable home ownership opportunities nationwide,” Bursey said in support of French’s motion.
The motion brought forward by Councillor French District calls upon the province to make changes to the building code that would allow tiny homes as permanent dwellings.
While not legally binding, the UBCM resolutions are a way for local governments to seek provincial attention for local issues deemed important by municipalities.
In his resolution, Councillor French said communities across BC were experiencing a housing crisis, and the full spectrum of affordable housing isn’t available to them.
Tiny homes could be one solution to the problem.
Tiny homes, single detached homes less than 500 square feet, could support infill densification as an alternative to laneway home, he said.
At present, tiny homes are non-compliant when it comes to the present BC Building Code.
French’s resolution wants UBCM to ask the province to review the 14 Code change requests, including application of the code, definitions within the code, combination rooms, ceiling heights, doorways, stairs, guards, smoke detectors, escape windows and lateral loads and plumbing.
These code changes requests have also been made at the national level.
“As the premiere professional association of tiny home builders, residents and advocates nationwide, we fundamentally support the goal of this resolution,” Bursey said.
Pennie Boyd says
Tiny homes are very important in this housing market. A great many people cannot afford a standard home. The next step is to allow land owners to have tiny homes on their property.
David Lassmann says
Tiny homes may have a place somewhere but may not be the best choice for Squamish. The need is for cost-effective housing for the poor living in an urban environment. Unemployed people don’t have the resources to pay rent, let alone buy a home. For those who might qualify, strata corporation condominiums containing studio suites would probably be the most economical. Tiny homes would require a small parcel of land with space around each home, and developed land is expensive in Squamish. For the homeless, hostel housing would probably be cheapest.
Donald Patrick says
Just quick math using a standard 8000 sq ft lot with reasonable set backs, one may be able to crowd in six of these tiny homes of the 375 ft class and maybe four of the 500 ft class. What do we achieve….many people that would rather live in crowded conditions than care for their investment and for sure those same folks will want pets and the same amount of toys as others…. so mostly low-income people in crowded conditions ….. this is after the landowner or someone else has installed the services of sewer, water, gas, hydro and surface water removal….plus available parking. Has some merit to putting people under a cover ….. but is that the task for a municipality. If so I am out of here. There are other alternatives…. some call them refugee internment camps