Affordable Housing Cannot Wait
Chassis provisions for Tiny Houses On Wheels have been treated like an anomaly for now 4 ICC code cycles and now it has been pushed over to the next code cycle which will not be until 2030. Affordable housing cannot wait. All across the world there is a battle for tiny houses on wheels and the question by the regulatory bodies that could approve and regulate them is '' Is A Tiny House On Wheels A Structure Or A Vehicle?''. The compliance path is for both.
The wheels conjure up complete confusion and they are treated like Godzilla coming down the road instead of a viable solution for housing. Not everyone can afford to buy land and the mobile nature of tiny houses on wheels are especially important for those who are seeking an alternative to traditional sized houses.
The public comment that was just heard at the second CAH hearing was turned down, even though it had the perfect and immediate pathway for adding chassis provisions for tiny houses as an I-Code change to Appendix BB Tiny Houses and they left no gaps in what was needed for a tiny house on wheels that could be approved as a dwelling. The proponents covered chassis regulations, structural requirements by an engineer, and requirements to be on a foundation, and legally hooked up to utilities.
As Vina Lustado stated at the hearing'' Movable Tiny Homes sit at the intersection of building code and transportation code, yet they are NOT manufactured housing, HUD has clarified that Movable Tiny Homes are not under their purview and RV rules fail to address full time occupancy and fire life safety. ''
To get tiny houses on wheels moving past the intersection of ICC, HUD, RVs, and transportation requirements, is to acknowledge the path that is already in existence for each stage of compliance and to know where one’s authority begins and ends, so there is no overlap and no one is taking on a liability that they should not take on. ICC 1215 could have done this, but have chosen not to.
The Standard Should Be Withdrawn
The ICC 1215 standard should be withdrawn and everyone should work on a new public comment with the proponents of RB42-25- 1 at the next ICC hearing and bring the industry together as a united front. The best work of the standard could be added to the public comment and there is potential that it could be approved for the inclusion in the 2027 IRC.
The Small Residential Unit will only bring confusion to the tiny houses industry and interrupt the progress of Appendix Q Tiny Houses.
Janet Thome President
Tiny House Alliance USA
janet@tinyhouseallianceusa.org