Demand for housing in Washington, DC is going through the roof. Over a thousand people move to the nation's capital every month, driving up the cost of housing, and turning the city into a construction zone. Tower cranes rising high above the city streets have become so common, they're just part of the background. But as fast as the cranes can rise, demand for housing has shot up even faster, making DC among the most expensive cities in the United States. With average home prices at $453 per square foot, it's every bit as expensive as New York City. And the struggles of one homebuilder shows just why the city's shortage looks to continue for a long time. "I got driven down the tiny house road because of affordability, simplicity, sustainability, and then mobility," says Jay Austin, who designed a custom 140-square-foot house in Washington, DC. Despite the miniscule size, his "Matchbox" house is stylish, well-built, and it includes all the necessities (if not the luxuries) of life: a bathroom, a shower, a modest kitchen, office space, and a bedroom loft. There's even a hot tub outside. Clever design elements make the most of minimalism. The Matchbox's high ceilings, skylight, and wide windows make the small space feel modern, uncluttered, and open. At a cost that ranges from $10,000 to $50,000, tiny homes like the Matchbox could help to ease the shortage of affordable housing in the capital city. Heating and cooling costs are negligible. Rainwater catchment systems help to make the homes self-sustaining. They're an attractive option to the very sort of residents who the city attracts in abundance: single, young professionals without a lot of stuff, who aren't ready to take on a large mortgage. But tiny houses come with one enormous catch: they're illegal, in violation of several codes in Washington DC's Zoning Ordinance. Among the many requirements in the 34 chapters and 600 pages of code are mandates defining minimum lot size, room sizes, alleyway widths, and "accessory dwelling units" that prevent tiny houses from being anything more than a part-time residence. That's why Austin and his tiny house-dwelling neighbors at Boneyard Studios don't actually live in their own homes much of the time. To skirt some of the zoning regulations, they've added wheels to their homes, which reclassifies them as trailers – and subjects them to regulation by the Department of Motor Vehicles. But current law still requires them to either move their homes from time to time, or keep permanent residences elsewhere. The DC Office of Zoning, the Zoning Commission, the Zoning Administrator, the Board of Zoning Adjustment, and the Office of Planning all declined to comment on the laws that prevent citizens from living in tiny houses. But their website offers a clue: Outdated terms like telegraph office and tenement house still reside in our regulations. Concepts like parking standards and antenna regulations are based on 1950s technology, and new concepts like sustainable development had not even been envisioned. Complex as it is, the Zoning Ordinance of the District of Columbia was approved in 1958. That's over five decades of cultural change and building innovations, like tiny houses, that the code wasn't designed to address. Exemptions and alterations to the code are possible – many are granted every year – but they don't come cheaply. Lisa Sturtevant of the National Housing Conference estimates that typical approvals add up to $50,000 to the cost of a new single-family unit. That's why large, wealthy developers enjoy greater flexibility to build in the city, but tiny house dwellers… not so much. Fortunately, a comprehensive rewrite of the zoning code has been in the works for much of the last decade. Efforts to allow more affordable housing are underway, although many of these solutions favor large developers. Future plans still forbid tiny houses. Austin estimates that, given the current glacial pace of change among the city's many zoning committees, tiny houses are "many years, if not decades out" from being allowed in the city. For now, Jay Austin is allowed to build the home of his dreams – he just can't live there. The Matchbox has become a part-time residence and a full-time showpiece. The community of tiny houses at Boneyard Studios are periodically displayed to the public in the hopes of changing a zoning authority that hasn't updated a zoning code in 56 years. Runs about 10:30 Produced, shot, written, narrated, and edited by Todd Krainin. Music by Associated Production Music and Lee Rosevere. Go to http://reason.com/reasontv/2014/08/07/jay-austins-beautiful-illegal-tiny-house for downloadable versions and subscribe to ReasonTV's YouTube Channel to receive notifications when new material goes live.”

Comments

1. Fuck the government. This is bullshit.
2. To John oliver:- This week "Zoning"
3. in the past 25 years the US has become one of the "Most Corrupt" Country in the World.......Thanks to Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barrack Obama....
4. DOES HE SPEAK ENGLISH ??
5. Very well researched and informative.
6. These people are so full of shit. They're not worries about squatter zones, what they are worried about is not being able to tax people or get them to pay ridiculous amounts of zoning costs to live. Housing is like a business, they are out to get your money, you can't just live anymore, someone has to be paid and it's bullshit.
7. Ridiculous that in today's world you can't live like you want to in your own property and home because of zoning issues. These homes are more affordable, sustainable and cheaper therefore could house multitudes of people including the homeless and everyday families. Only time will show that tiny living is the new norm and most are downsizing and going smaller because it is more affordable and you can work all your lives and retire without losing everything you have accumulated in life like some of our seniors have to sacrifice in this day and age
8. government is bad. zoning is bad
9. Victoria make sense.
10. Thats why im buying a sprinter camper van this summer :)
    Travel the world and live anywhere I go
11. People that enforce "codes" are treasonous usurpers. Monsters that steal your property rights and property.
    The Declaration tells us how to deal with such tyrants and criminals.... you put them 6 feet under
12. the minimum requirement for the sq ft is regulated so comapnies dont build tiny shit apartments to squeeze out money for lesser place out of their customers. Ever thought about that?Its a sort of protection and more like a regulation because of the companies.
13. I live in Houston and this is fairly accurate. However, it's not wide open. Private covenants and deed restrictions were mentioned but there's also HOAs, Home Owners Associations. HOAs have a lot to say about what you can and cannot do. There are some city restrictions such as not being able to put a SOB, Sexually Oriented Business, such as a adult bookstore or strip club within a certain distance of a school or church. You can have a home car repair business in the middle of a neighborhood and as long as you're not violating any other ordinance such as the number of cars parked on your property you're legal. As far as the design, or aesthetics, of a home as long as you can pass building code go for it. Yeah but there's still those HOAs and they pretty much replace city ordinances. The city may not regulate a auto repair business in a neighborhood but I can guarantee the HOAs do.
14. I love you Houston
15. Just need a house with a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, livingroom, and a closet, mabey about a 400-500 sq. ft tiny house with a plot of land
16. But how can we survive without government telling us how to do everything the we need to do. We would be lost! Why last week They had me set my clock forward one hour. Thanks government.
17. Sure hope this guy doesn't want government health care, or anything else controlled by the government.  But its amazing how people complain, then turn around and want the government to do more.
18. Harriet should get a real job and stop sucking-up tax payer money.
19. My parents and I have agreed that they would buy a shed for me, and I could live in it when I get a couple years older. Can't wait!