Local Spotlight: Tiny Homes on Wheels
Casita Board Member and Smart Share Housing Solutions Executive Director, Anne Wyatt, shares about Smart Share’s latest small housing awareness project: an ambassador for Tiny Houses on Wheels (THOW) showing how livable and cost-effective small homes can be.
When Smart Share Housing did a Tiny House expo in 2019, staff observed a transformation occur in many of the more than 6,000 attendees. “Wow! I could live in that!” was a common refrain. “We could tell that seeing was believing–over and over again,” Wyatt says.
The idea of a tiny home on wheels (THOW) sounds unappealing to many, who express concerns about the functionality of small space living and living on wheels. ”The best way to combat concerns is to allow people to explore real tiny homes and see just how functional they can be,” says Wyatt. To provide this opportunity to the community in San Luis Obispo County, Smart Share ordered a “demo” tiny house, which was delivered last week and will be open for public workshops during 2023.
The home, a Tiny Victorian model from Pacifica Tiny Homes, can be legally towed behind a truck at 8.5 feet wide and 22 ft long. The total price tag for the home is under $75,000, not including the cost of the solar system to be added after on-site in the next few months.
“Our goal is to show off this small home, this home on wheels–and this home that can be fully functional and livable off-grid,” says Wyatt. “We want to shave the price and process of housing down, so that the private market can provide this housing to the growing number of single-person households, in particular, who need it and want it. With costs for subsidized housing at upwards of $400,000 per home in California, we need more viable market solutions in the mix or we are going to continue to fall behind.”
Only two cities in San Luis Obispo county (San Luis Obispo and Arroyo Grande) currently allow tiny homes on wheels, but only if they are hooked up to local sewer systems. This home is designed to function completely off the grid, with a waterless toilet and solar, shaving off some of the time, uncertainty, and cost associated with home placement and permitting. The systems also highlight all-electric zero carbon and low water use systems, allowing for more housing with minimal associated environmental impacts.
Smart Share intends to use the home not only to show off the functionality of the space but also to push for legislative support to allow tiny homes on wheels in more places. Smart Share aims to get a pilot program approved to place more of these off-grid units in places that could use “caretaker units” to keep an eye on their spaces at night, like churches, service group buildings, and daycare centers. Many of these facilities are committed to helping people out by dedicating parking lot space to a rental unit that can serve the dual function of housing someone and keeping the property safe. Smart Share’s goal is to place five to ten of these units by 2024.
“The more we can show policymakers, planners, and the public these units are robust and safe, the better the argument is for widespread legalization and adoption,” notes Wyatt.
"We're thrilled for the opportunity for San Luis Obispo residents to better see and understand how much value small housing can bring to the mix,” says Casita’s Executive Director, Celeste Goyer.
For more information about the project, visit Smart Share’s website here.