User:Lin.jaide/Tiny-house movement

Legend
Italicized words: Content from the original article "Tiny-house movement"

Regular words: Content from NTH essay and original edits and changes.

Contributions

 * Expand upon Housing for the Homeless Section: Add more information on local ordinances due to previous mentions of PE org work (ie. the Tiny House In My Backyard project) occurring under Sustainable Housing at California
 * Expand upon existing Citations and References
 * Edit portion on Issues (Potentially split off into different Issues related to the Tiny Housing Movement), and ensure there is no overlap between Issues and the Pros and Cons of Tiny Housing section.

Lead
''The tiny-house movement (also known as the "small-house movement") is an architectural and social movement that advocates living simply in small homes. There are different definitions of "tiny". The 2018 International Residential Code, Appendix Q Tiny Houses, defines a tiny house as a dwelling unit with a maximum of 37 square metres (400 sq ft) of floor area, excluding lofts. There are a variety of reasons for living in a tiny house. Many people who enter this lifestyle rethink what they value in life and decide to put more effort into strengthening their communities, healing the environment, spending time with their families, or saving money. Tiny homes can also provide affordable, transitional housing for those who have experienced a lack of shelter.''

Paraphrase to: The tiny-house movement (also known as the "small house movement") is an architectural and social movement that advocates for downsizing living spaces, simplifying, and essentially "living with less." According to the 2018 International Residential Code, Appendix Q Tiny Houses, a tiny house is a "dwelling unit with a maximum of 37 square metres (400 sq ft) of floor area, excluding lofts." While tiny housing primarily represents a return to simpler living, the movement was also regarded as a potential eco-friendly solution to the existing housing industry, as well as a feasible transitional option for individuals experiencing a lack of shelter.

Addition to "Housing for the Homeless" section's existing description of PE Org:
''One challenge besides zoning and funding has been a NIMBY response by communities. Communities may weigh concerns over tiny home communities becoming shantytowns or blighted neighborhoods that reduce property values of the surrounding neighborhoods. For cities such as Chicago, tiny houses are seen as an appealing option to close the gap in housing availability. Community planners also have concerns that communities don't devolve into shantytowns such as during the Great Depression in "Hoovervilles". ''

In California, the city of Richmond has engaged University of California, Berkeley students in the THIMBY (Tiny House In My Backyard) project with a pilot program for developing a model of six transitional tiny homes to be placed in the city. THIMBY, with the support of Sustainable Housing at California, aims to foster an environment that allows homeowners and transitional housing residents to live as neighbors rather than in a landlord-tenant relationship. THIMBY acquires target locations for tiny housing development through surveying interested homeowners offering to rent out backyard space for the tiny housing unit. While Sustainable Housing at California has independently scouted out interested individuals for the initial pilot project, the organization also aims to work closely with the City of Richmond’s Tiny House on Wheels ordinance to bolster city-level efforts to provide affordable housing and shelter. This is in line with developing efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area to use micro-apartments and tiny houses in combating the housing crisis and homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area.

''Similar efforts of using tiny houses to house the homeless are also ongoing in Oakland through a partnership between the City of Oakland and Laney College. ''

''In Edinburgh UK the Social Enterprise Social Bite asked Jonathan Avery of Tiny House Scotland to design a variation of his NestHouse tiny house to create a two bedroom version for its Homeless Tiny House Village in the Granton area of Edinburgh. The village was opened on May 17, 2018 by the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, Angela Constance MSP and features eleven NestHouse Duo tiny houses and a community hub building all built by Carbon Dynamic. ''

Addition to "The pros and cons of tiny houses" section of community views of homelessness and NIMBY-ism:
''The increased utilization of small houses as second homes or retirement houses may lead to development of more land. People interested in building a small home can encounter institutional “discrimination” when building codes require minimum size well above the size of a small home. Also, neighbors may be hostile because they fear negative impacts on their property values and have concerns about increased taxes. ''

(Addition from the NTH Essay) More broadly, these sentiments of "othering" homeless and unhoused persons have culminated into a broader movement of NIMBY-ism, or "Not in My Backyard."

The advent of NIMBY-ism occupied much of community organizing and housing advocacy dialogue in the 1980s, so much that some coined it “the populist political philosophy of the 1980s.” In many ways, NIMBY philosophy functions through the “spatialization of stigma,” allowing residents and homeowners to reallocate and redefine neighborhoods and local communities and, consequently, which individuals should be allowed to occupy such an area. While modern U.S. society has statistically experienced a growing need for human services and welfare, researchers have acknowledged that “The stigmatization of persons and places are thus mutually constitutive of community rejection and organized resistance to human service facility sitting.” In effect, community resistance to housing advocacy and affordability measures further exacerbates the dwindling number of public resources and social services available to vulnerable and displaced homeless persons.

By treating homelessness as a non-familiarized issue, residents and homeowners are effectively exempt from community obligations towards the well-being and sheltering of other community members experiencing homelessness. Despite the framing of housing as a fundamental rights-based issue, community perspectives have evolved towards a more economic, individualized form that correlates a person’s home-ownership and housing to their values and ethics, employ-ability, and general ability to provide for themselves and their families. As such, the inability of both private and public sectors to supplement the widening gap of affordable housing options and shelter is, in some ways, conveniently explained by an individual’s supposed inability to ensure living stability, maintain financial independence, and solidify their position within the society at large.