San Diego plans for tiny houses
Proposed rules for low-cost, quickly built units are aimed at easing housing crisis.
City officials say they’ll allow the low-cost, quickly built units in backyards to ease the housing crunch.
SAN DIEGO — San Diego officials say they plan to begin allowing movable tiny houses in backyards across the city to help address the local homelessness and affordable housing crises.
The tiny houses, which are similar to granny flats but smaller, can be built more quickly and cheaply than granny flats and will create a new source of lowcost housing without any government subsidies, city officials said last week.
“I think this is a good, common-sense solution that provides some possibilities for non-subsidized, market-rate-type housing,” Councilman Scott Sherman said Wednesday during a meeting of the council’s Land Use and Housing Committee. “It’s one small step in dealing with our housing crisis.”
The committee voted unanimously to direct City Atty. Mara Elliott to draft an amendment to San Diego’s municipal code that would allow movable tiny houses as long as property owners adhere to a long list of restrictions and requirements.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell. “Let’s do it.”
San Diego will be joining several other cities that have begun allowing movable tiny houses, including Denver, Fresno and San Luis Obispo. Other cities considering the option include Los Angeles, Sacramento and Oakland.
Nationally, the tiny house movement began as an attempt to downsize and live more simply, often with a smaller environmental impact. In more recent years, it has grown thanks to TV shows like “Tiny House Nation,” and some cities and nonprofit agencies are turning to tiny houses for low-income or homeless families.
Under San Diego’s proposed regulations, movable tiny houses would range in size from 150 to 430 square feet. They would have fireresistant roofs and would need to be connected to sewer, water and electricity lines.
Though movable tiny houses have wheels, city officials said, they aren’t like a conventional trailer or recreational vehicle. Instead, they are built like a traditional home, with interior space geared for daily living.
Under the proposed rules, they could not be rented out for less than 30 days at a time, so they wouldn’t be used as shortterm vacation rentals. Property owners would not be required to provide an on-site parking spot for the tiny house.
The homes would have to be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles, but they would not be allowed to move under their own power.
Some developers said they support the effort.
“Everyone pretty much agrees that the old ways of doing things are not going to get us out of this crisis,” said Matt Adams, vice president of the San Diego chapter of the Building Industry Assn. “It’s creative, it’s innovative, and you have other jurisdictions around the nation exploring it.”
Property owners can have a movable tiny house installed on their property within 30 to 45 days, much faster than the six to 18 months it typically takes to add a granny flat, said Barrett Tetlow, Sherman’s chief of staff.
The process takes less time because the movable tiny houses are prefabricated and then shipped to property owners; granny flats, in contrast, are typically built on-site and require a lengthier approval process.
Tetlow said a tiny house costs about $85,000 total, compared with $100,000 to $150,000 for a granny flat, which is usually between 500 and 1,000 square feet.
With tiny houses renting for about $900 a month, Tetlow said, property owners would recover their initial investment in about eight years.
The tiny houses would become a new rung on the housing ladder, allowing people to climb out of homelessness or subsidized lowincome housing, Tetlow said.
“It’s a win for the homeowner, it’s a win for the renter, and it’s a win for the taxpayer because we’re not requiring any subsidies for the affordable unit,” he said.
City officials have loosened rules for granny flats in recent years, prompting more than 450 property owners to secure a permit for a granny flat since 2017.
But many property owners balk at the cost and time it takes to get approvals and to construct a granny flat. Tetlow said tiny houses could be an appealing alternative for such property owners.
Sherman said he expects the committee to vote on the municipal code change allowing tiny houses by the end of the year. The full City Council is expected to approve the new policy in early 2020.