California county legalizes living in tiny homes on wheels in effort to combat housing crisis
NEVADA COUNTY – Nevada County is facing a housing crisis and one way to combat that is by offering more affordable options.
In most of California, tiny homes on wheels are illegal. But that's no longer the case in Nevada County thanks to a new ordinance.
"We have a huge portion of low to middle-class people that can't afford to buy the average home in the community, myself included. But they can afford this," the owner of Sol Tiny, Travis Duckworth, said.
As part of an effort to address Nevada County's housing crisis, tiny homes on wheels will now be legal to permanently live in.
"We had a tiny home builder in the community placing them in Placer County," said Nevada County principal planner Tyler Barrington.
That tiny home builder is Duckworth. He noticed the need for another housing option in his own county.
"Up until this ordinance, they were illegal to live in more than 90 days a year April to October. So now, people can live in them legally. We were already doing this. Now it's legal so it's taken that weight off peoples' shoulders that they were doing this under the radar," Duckworth said.
"It does provide an option for folks to come up with a home for the elderly or college-aged kids to get into pretty quickly. It's another option in the toolbox, if you will, to address the housing crisis in Nevada County," Barrington said.
Nevada County officials say there are certain criteria that must be followed, like applying for yearly DMV registration and getting proper inspections. But the wheels are what make the difference, allowing people an affordable avenue.
"A regular tiny home would be subject to California building code and require permanent foundation. A tiny home on wheels is inspected by either the American National Standards Institute or the National Fire Protection Agency," Barrington said.
"Get people out of renting into owning so they can build their equity. And provide more housing just in terms of inventory," Duckworth said.
Duckworth said it's a great way to allow people to transition from renting to eventually buying if that's their goal.
"The whole affordability is just size. So if I build a 300 or 400-square-foot house for $100,000 to $200,000, that's a huge part of the market that's not available right now. So people can have a high-end home, smaller," Duckworth said.
Sol Tiny said they're already building double the amount of homes they built last year. The county said they're already looking into more pro-housing ordinances to give people even more options.
This new law will go into effect Feb. 13.
