Tiny homes are small, obviously. The movement behind them is anything but.
The popularity of tiny homes has risen in recent years, and it seems they are more popular in Colorado than any other state.
“Colorado is the hub for the tiny house movement,” said Art Laubach, director of the Colorado Tiny House Association. Laubach founded the organization, which began in March, to advocate for the development of tiny homes.
Colorado is at or near the top for number of builders compared to other states, according to Laubach, and it is one of the leading states for tiny home living.
The state has over 20 builders who are constructing more than one tiny home unit at a time, and over 40 companies that have built at least one tiny home. On tiny home websites, other states with a growing number of manufacturers include Oregon, Washington and Texas.
The tiny home movement is being driven by people who are more interested in prioritizing experiences over material goods, Laubach said. Colorado is ideal for that lifestyle because there are so many outdoor activities within a short distance of urban areas.
Laubach used the example of one tiny home owner who is an avid fly-fisherman.
“He wants the freedom to do that at his leisure, but not have to make a ton of money to be able to afford it,” Laubach said. Not having a large mortgage gives him the ability to put more resources into his hobby.
The rising cost of home ownership is another factor driving interest in tiny homes, Laubach said, especially for young people.
“It’s a great option to be able to afford your own home,” Laubach said. “Some of the young folks today that come out of college with thousands in debt, they simply can’t afford to buy a traditional home.”
Along with millennials, Laubach said older people are another group driving the tiny home boom. Many tiny home buyers are empty nesters or retirees looking to downsize.
Environmentalism is also a factor, with people looking to reduce their environmental impact and live a more simple life.
At the Colorado Tiny House Festival in June, thousands of people came to Brighton to evangelize or learn about tiny home living. Laubach, who organized the festival, said it is the largest tiny living event in the country, with people coming in from every state in the U.S. and nine countries.
Over 50 tiny homes were on display. The styles were varied, with trailers, container homes, yurts, tipis, vans and converted buses all on display. The homes ranged widely in price, decoration and size. Some were whimsical and artistic, others sparsely utilitarian. Some were the size of an RV, while one had a pole outside with a sign reading “you should be shorter than this to enter.” But each had a long line of people waiting to take a peek inside.
Adam and Elizabeth Paashaus and their 6- and 9-year-old daughters were at the festival displaying their home. Dubbed the “deliberate life bus,” the family converted an old school bus into a tiny house. Originally from North Carolina, they now drive around the country, exploring and sharing about their lifestyle.
The bus took two years to convert, and the family has been on the road for eight months. Adam Paashaus said he and his wife had always been interested in alternate housing. It was Elizabeth’s dream to travel the country in a mobile home during retirement, and they decided, why wait?
Paashaus said the bus allows them to live life on their own terms and to be homeowners. But he also acknowledged that the lifestyle has risks. It takes a lot of money to convert a vehicle into a home, and if it breaks down you can end up stranded.
Regardless, a steady stream of visitors lined up to see the bus and to ask Paashaus for advice about creating their own. The festival even had a workshop teaching people how to convert school buses (or “skoolies,” in tiny home lingo) into mobile homes.
For those who didn’t want to build something from scratch, the festival had a lot of vendors selling their products, including many from Colorado.
Brian Eck was there promoting his Castle Rock-based tiny home company, Eck Architecture. A graduate of University of Colorado Boulder’s architecture program, Eck decided to follow in his father’s footsteps as a builder. After watching a show about tiny homes on TV, he and his wife thought it would be fun to specialize in building them.
Eck caters to a mix of clients. Some are people in their mid 20s and early 30s who want to own a home, others are people over 50 looking to downsize.
Eck said that interest in tiny homes has increased over time, but financial institutions aren’t backing them yet, which makes them hard for many to purchase. Most banks won’t give out home loans to buy tiny houses, so people have to take out personal loans instead.
“And at that rate you might as well just go buy a $300,000 home, because the monthly payment will be lower,” he said.
Zoning is another problem impeding the development of more tiny homes. Many counties don’t allow for tiny homes to be developed in their jurisdictions. They are gradually becoming legal in more places — Lyons recently changed its accessory dwelling unit rules to allow tiny houses on wheels to be legal. But Laubach wants them to become legal statewide, and created the association in part to advocate for that.
Right now, the process for becoming a tiny home dweller is murky. Some people buy land to put their tiny homes on, but they have to make sure they’re conforming to local building codes, which may have minimum square-footage requirements. Many people with tiny homes on wheels live in RV parks. Laubach said that a lot of people use Craigslist or tiny homes Facebook groups to look for places where they can put their homes. Some just live outside the zoning laws and stay until they get a citation.
Companies sell to retailers as well as potential homeowners. Ivy Fife, marketing manager at the Colorado Yurt Company, said their business sells about half their products to buyers and half to commercial businesses like campgrounds.
Most of the people who buy yurts (a circular hut of Mongolian origin) are not living in them full-time, Fife said, but using them as cabins. She said they have become increasingly popular as a form of luxury camping.
“People, especially millennials, are looking for experiences,” she said. “Not just a place to sleep.”
The company was founded in Montrose in 1976, and has grown every year, Fife said. She said Colorado has been a great location for their business because it’s a desirable place for employees to work and because it lends them credibility.
“As an outdoor brand, the location adds some authenticity to our business,” she said.
Laubach worked in construction for a long time, and got involved in tiny home building because he wanted to support affordable housing and environmentalism. Seeing the positive effects of tiny homes on people made him a strong advocate for the lifestyle.
Though he lives in an RV for part of the year and has plans on building something for himself soon, Laubach does not currently live in a tiny home. Why not? Well for one thing, he owns six 100-pound dogs.
“They would be hard to fit,” he said.
