Introduction

Description: The Maryland Tiny House Coalition is a volunteer group that began in July 2020 to coordinate planning ordinances by town and county and to strategize paths forward. The coalition meets to help local builders and residents better inform and strengthen their local representatives and planning staff's decisions to make tiny homes work with their existing ordinances. Lead volunteer organizer: Mr. Justin Fair

What's a tiny home?

Tiny Homes come in multiple types: three general types: moveable, semi-permanent, or permanent/on foundation. Type A moveable homes are often: tiny homes on wheels, schoolies that are built on a trailer frame/chassis; or an in-between like retrofitted shipping containers or micro-shelters, or Type B foundation based homes: cottages/cabins, micro-shelters, micro-apartments, retrofitted sheds or other infrastructure, ADUs, and villages.

So how can you get involved?

Big Picture Steps (represent as icons):

Coalition Building: Develop community advocacy, slow-churn of hobbyists, builders and residents.
Build a tiny home
- Research well ahead of time
- Decide on your housing model
- Contract or DIY
  - ADU
  - Senior Transition
  - Buy Land
  - Build at home without code enforcement knowing
  - Build at a local tool bank or warehouse
  - Build elsewhere
Comprehensive Planning: demand access for affordable, fair housing for tiny home villages through zoning, land use, and permit via simplified processes, promotional encouragement, special zones, fee waivers, umbrella zoning appeal procedures, and more; and voice your expectations at community development meetings, letter writing campaigns, trainings and workshops.
- Rubric: ‣ that explicitly welcome middle housing and alternatives to multifamily apartments.
Land Use and Zoning Review: Analyze zoning codes to identify gaps in the metrics of existing zoning, often using graphic testing of potential development scenarios on existing lot sizes. Specific recommendations for the right metrics ...chapter 6.
- Have you seen Mr. Fair's Rubrics?
  - Neighborhood Indicators Comparison Rubric ("How does my neighborhood rank?" (page 164) with Matrix on page 132
  - ADU consideration rubric for Baltimore City on page 166.
  - Flow chart for map building for best village sites on page 167.
Public Policy and Planning Law: Overcome legality structures to enable practical, safe permanent housing.
Tastes: Overcome hurdle of public hangups (taste),
- Develop for yourself and your neighborhood a Visual preference survey (VPS)
Financing: Search for models from other states, identify developers and financers in Maryland, including housing advocates, credit unions and banks.
- To address inherently discriminate housing practices, banks typically won't treat tiny homes well if they can't assess a risk table. Do your homework to perform a market analysis on the area and a working profroma for the site.
- Right now, personal loan v mortgage have drastically different rates, pay down requirements. Current mortgage rates are subsidized whereas personal rates aren't.
- There are Community Land Trusts, Co-Ops, Landominiums, and other models you can create a Pilot for, campaign for a Tiny House Zone, or work within existing ordinances to adapt.