Southern Alberta-based Lorraine Davis says living in her 224-square foot micro home house on wheels, which cost $158,000, two years ago, 'is a huge cost-of-living saver.'Supplied
Lorraine Davis’s favourite spot in her tiny house, which measures 224 square feet – well, 341 square feet including bedroom loft space – is her living room.
“It’s small, but I have big cathedral windows and I can just sit there and watch the birds, including this one eagle, playing in the wind,” says Ms. Davis, who purchased the micro home two years ago. “It still blows my mind – from being a city girl to being like this.”
Situated in a mountain RV resort in southern Alberta, Ms. Davis’s micro home is a far cry from her former 2,000-square-foot house in Edmonton, where she still celebrates Christmas with her ex-husband and two adult kids. “That foyer is literally the size of my entire house here. I walk in there now and it’s like, wow, it’s at least 10 feet wide! I could do so much with this space.”
The width of Ms. Davis’s home is eight feet, six inches – the maximum possible for tiny houses to be transported on a highway without a wide-load permit.
Ms. Davis says her new, $158,000 home “is a huge cost-of-living saver.”
I have less space for books, but now I own a bookstore.
— Lorraine Davis, tiny homeowner
Her monthly expenses include a $900 mortgage, $40 for propane, and $600 for leasing a spot at Kenai Acres Resort.
For Ms. Davis, the money-saving trade-off means “I have less space for books, but now I own a bookstore.” In the nearby town of Bellevue, Tuesdays Bookshop fulfils a long-time aspiration, she says.
“In the city, there was no way I could have afforded to rent a retail space. But out here the dream was possible because I went tiny.”
Like many tiny homeowners, Ms. Davis was drawn to the economic and environmental benefits of scaling down. With soaring real estate prices and growing concerns about sustainability, the movement is attracting Canadians of all ages looking to cut costs and live more intentionally.
Featuring large cathedral windows, the 'Amelia' is one of several tiny home styles offered by Lethbridge, Alta.-based Teacup Tiny Homes.Supplied
She’s part of a rapidly growing movement in Canada that is attracting people who want to downsize and simplify their lives, according to Tiny Homes In Canada, an online resource, which defines tiny homes as any home under 400 square feet, with the vast majority built on wheels.
Faced with the current country-wide rental crisis, rising entry costs to the housing markets and energy bills, many people are seeking alternative housing solutions – micro homes use substantially less energy than large houses, and owners are drawn to a community of like-minded enthusiasts.
Since her home requires less money and time to maintain than a traditional house, Ms. Davis says she spends more time doing other things she enjoys, such as playing ukulele (a suitably tiny instrument) and singing in a choir. Puzzles posed a space challenge, but now she does them on her bed, using a homemade felted board, which gets tucked under the mattress between sessions.
Founded eight years ago, Lethbridge, Alta., -based Teacup Tiny Homes has built and sold about 100 impeccably appointed tiny homes, including Ms. Davis’s.
“We started out building homes on wheels as a way to get around building codes,” says company founder Jennifer McCarthy.
Canada’s residential building code doesn’t allow tiny home efficiency features such as low-ceiling lofts, steep loft steps and narrow doors and hallways. Homes on wheels or a chassis, however, are considered recreational vehicles, for which building codes don’t apply.
Ms. McCarthy says lately, the company has been selling more “foundational homes” or small modular homes. Built to the national manufactured-home building code regulations, they’re like open-concept bachelor suites. The demand for these units has surged because zoning laws that once restricted such permanent, tiny houses are being amended to accommodate them in more jurisdictions across Canada, says Ms. McCarthy.
This year, half of Teacup’s sales are expected to be tiny modular homes delivered to sites and installed on a concrete foundation or screw piles. Measuring 360 to 520 square feet, they cost between $158,000 and $250,000.
“I believe the future of the tiny home industry will include more modular builds,” Ms. McCarthy says.
Prospective tiny-house buyers line up to view a home built by Vancouver Island-based Rewild Homes Ltd.Supplied
Most of these homes will become accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which will be placed on lots that already have a primary residence. Toronto and Vancouver now allow ADUs on virtually every property.
In Canada, only a few rural, mountainous and northern municipalities allow tiny homes as primary residences. For full-time tiny home dwellers in these areas, foundational tiny homes solve a legal issue that continues to mar tiny homes on wheels.
Despite being built to extremely high standards, the fact that homes on wheels aren’t recognized in Canada’s building code means they are not considered a residential building, and therefore dwelling full-time in such a structure isn’t allowed.
Rewild Homes Ltd. has been building high-quality tiny houses on wheels on Vancouver Island for 10 years. The company’s website states, “our number one goal is to help make home-ownership affordable to everyone.”
“There are tens of thousands of people living in RVs on the island illegally,” says co-director Jessica Whelan. “They just choose to go that route. They’re comfortable and conscious of what they’re doing, and they need housing, and this is what they want to do.”
Ms. Whelan and her husband, Rewild owner Patrick Whelan, lived off-grid in a 120-square-foot tiny home nestled into a secluded space on the island for two years.
Ms. Whelan says some of her clients own land where they can put their new tiny home, but more commonly, “they’re putting [them] on their parent’s property, which makes it a little bit easier.”
Conversely, the company sees retirees who are downsizing and moving on to their kids’ property in a tiny house, as well as people who are buying the homes to rent out for either short- or long-term stays.
“But as far as zoning, there’s not an easy answer,” says Ms. Whelan. “I get asked that question so many times and it really depends on each person, on what you’re comfortable doing.”
From her cozy abode, Ms. Davis says, “towns just need to start figuring it out and make things way more accessible for tiny homes.”
“I know it will take work,” she adds. “If I [bought] a piece of land, say in a town, or anywhere, I’d like to have the right to live there.”