New study recommends tiny home villages to increase affordable housing
SquareOne Villages recently participated in a study conducted by U.C. Berkeley's School of Public Policy. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Portland, Oregon Field Office tasked the top ranked public policy analysis program in the country with evaluating the feasibility of using tiny home villages to address the affordable housing shortage in Lane County.
This week, the group released the following report:
"Making a Tiny Deal Out of It: A Feasibility Study of Tiny Home Villages
to Increase AffordableHousing in Lane County, Oregon"
It's estimated that the need for affordable rental units in Lane County is more than four times greater than what is currently being provided. Those luck enough to receive a Section 8 voucher in the most recent cycle had applied more than six years prior. With such a dire housing shortage, it's no wonder why continues to experience a significant homeless population.
The report recommends, "Tiny homes are a feasible, cost effective option to house Lane County’s homeless and marginally housed populations... It is also projected that tiny home villages will create communal support, benefitting residents’ likelihood of long-term housing, employment, and contentment."
To reach this conclusion, the group analyzed implementation feasibility (including building and zoning codes, land availability, and necessary community support), cost and funding streams available, and metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of tiny home villages. Our projects provided two distinct village models to study—Opportunity Village as a transitional model and Emerald Village as a permanent model.
The report finds: "Future developers in Eugene can benefit from the example set by SquareOne Villages, the organization that built Opportunity Village and is planning Emerald Village. Since the process of permitting and zoning a tiny home village has already succeeded in Eugene, developers could follow the established path."
Read the full report here:
