I’ve written a lot lately about the state’s housing crunch and the possibility that alternative buildings can help. (I think the most recent story – read it here – is the most interesting, because it tries to find causes for a housing shortfall when our population is pretty stagnant.)
These stories often mention “tiny homes” – stand-alone housing units of 400 square feet or less – and the push to allow more development of accessory dwelling units or ADUs, often known as in-law apartments or granny flats. Those are connected (usually) but functionally separate living spaces, sort of like an unbalanced duplex.
Since ADUs don’t have to be connected to the initial home, there’s obviously an overlap, and a recent story in Seacoast Online looks at one example (read it here). It concerns a 23-year-old’s efforts to adapt her tiny home to still-changing ADU rules in Hampton Falls.
O’Brien said she is happy to adjust her home to the town’s requirements, but it is uncertain if her situation fits with the town ordinances since they were crafted without tiny houses in mind. With having the house registered as a trailer ruled out, she is working with Building Inspector Mark Sikorski to make the home fit requirements for her other option – an accessory dwelling unit.
As the parent of a child who went to school at UBM, I like this comment about the woman in question: “She had seen unorthodox living spaces in school at the University of Vermont where students lived in tiny houses and even yurts.”
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