Preface
Because of the widespread coverage in the media, the small house is popular everywhere. There are millions of followers on dozens of pages on social media. Although there is no census of these houses, historically, their popularity has skyrocketed-for example, witnessing a large increase in small house manufacturers. Micro houses originating in the United States have also emerged in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Advocate the construction of small houses to cope with the affordable housing crisis; it is an ideal alternative to traditional houses and mortgages. However, as I discovered when I read about these tiny spaces, there are many complexities and contradictions around these tiny spaces.
The editor also visited Open House, in a small house community, and asked dozens of people living in it. Found that choosing a small apartment house must consider three things.
- Small apartment and housing rating
Millennials have a complicated relationship with home ownership. They usually still want to own their own house, but they simply cannot own a house like their parents.
Most millennials hope to have bigger houses in the future. They see the meager life as a means to own something and be able to save at the same time. Several young couples plan to upgrade when they have children, sell their small houses and even keep them as hotels.
However, if they take these houses as temporary choices and give up as their lives develop, it is not always that simple in practice. In addition to the obvious challenge of saving money to afford larger housing, selling small houses is not easy because they usually depreciate. And because they are not attached to the land, there are often question marks about their long-term viability.
- Need to ask a reliable agency
Micro-houses tend to be a way to circumvent the government’s minimum living area. This often makes their residents feel uneasy. In my own experience, I live in a small house, and recall that when I jumped off the ladder leading to the raised bed, I learned a little about the wheels below and swayed slightly.
Some people think: it feels less solid, it feels like we are separated from the earth because we have wheels underneath. This often reminds us that you are in such a fragile housing state.
Most of the residents I have spoken to are eager to have a solid foundation in the future. I met a millennial who used her university funds to build a beautiful and custom-made small house, but after just a year of living on wheels, she felt so baseless that she tried to sell it. This indicates that building codes need to be relaxed to allow more small house owners to live on the foundations. Some places have taken the lead in such actions. However, in a broader sense, the legality around small houses is still complicated. In some areas, they continue to limit the potential of this lifestyle. For example, in the UK, there may be some problems with planning laws, requiring all new residences to have more than one bed. In southwest England, the Bristol City Council recently rejected such regulations, allowing several small houses to be built in the back garden of a row house in the suburbs, deeming it necessary to alleviate the local housing crisis.
- Tiny houses ≠ tiny consumption
Micro-houses are often proposed as a more sustainable housing option. They are undoubtedly a potential inspection for the continued pursuit of larger houses and greater energy consumption, building materials, etc. However, reducing the impact on the environment through refinement is not as simple as some people say. For example, I have encountered several very small families that use external storage space to store items that are not suitable for family use.
If you want to change the size of the residence (rather than the size of the room), not only must the mentality of the people living in it be changed, but it will also cost more.
