To my fellow tiny house dwellers and dreamers-
For years I have worked as a legal parking advocate to help advance parking for tiny houses on wheels. In 2018, my husband and I built our tiny and spent two years searching for legal parking. We legalized our tiny with the wheels on, on our own land - a hard fought battle to say the least.
I have followed closely the creation of standards and codes for the past 5 years, as I am an active member of the ASTM global standards currently being created, but what is occurring with the ICC and THIA venture now threatens to disable positive movement for this industry and tiny houses on wheels as a whole.
A SRU (small residential unit) is 1200 sq ft or less constructed as a permanent residence, while a tiny house on wheels falls under 400 square ft and contains a chassis which has been completely removed from the documentation, in an attempt to lump it under codified ICC jargon that is not recognized and will not provide it the proper and necessary ability to stand on its own as a viable and efficient type of housing.
Multiple violations have occurred during this process including: overreach in dominating a standard, violation of ANSI requirements, bullying, failure to call for comments, stacked voting committee members, lack of Pins notifications to stakeholders, domination of a single interest party, which have all led to this current situation.
While the forward movement of the tiny house on wheels popularity grows, so must the standards and codes that help us live legally - however, pushing us back as a movement in this fashion will hinder affordable housing options, hurt small builders and DIY builders, and create confusion surrounding already existing regulations.
We have always been a movement for simplicity, passion for living with freedom, flexibility, and move-ability.
Now it’s time to MOVE.
It’s time to push back against unfair and oppressive regulations as we are actively witnessing the corporate take over of tiny houses on wheels right now.
It’s time to stand together and work for change - your signature counts, your voice counts, and your active participation will protect the interests of small builders, DIYers so this industry is not compromised by corporate interests, regulations, expensive factory certifications, and more barriers to entry.
Please consider signing and sharing this important information and reading the full petition as there are multiple ways to help.
Go tiny - live free!
Melanie Copeland
National Spokesperson for Tiny House Alliance USA
Author, DIY builder, Legal Advocate, Tiny Home on Wheels Dweller.