Tiny House land opportunity in Portland OR

[Molly Gray]

Hey tiny friends!

I recently encountered a fellow who's friend is interested in possibly parceling out land he owns in NE Portland for tiny house lots. My understanding is that as long as they are up to manufactured home code you would be able to legally live on this land as a tiny community!

Fred Stewart is the contact I have, he is a realtor and has been in touch with the land owner. They are currently trying to assess the interest level of folks in town to see if this is a viable project. 

If you are curious about this please contact Fred at fr...@sgrealty.net. Also I have just begun my own tiny build (finally!) and I would love it if you followed my progress on my blog here: http://thelittlescrounge.tumblr.com/

Thank you and have a day fill of tiny joys!

Best,

Molly

[Dee Williams]

Hi there.  Manufactured homes are at least 400sqft. Just an FYI, if you're building a tiny house on wheels (most if not all are smaller than that).  Just a clarification.

Cheers!!!  Dee

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[Molly Catherine Viarengo Gray]

Ah thanks for the clarification Dee - I am not sure what their stance on the code situation actually is- he had mentioned manufactured or RV coding but I am not sure how the land is zoned. 

Anyways just passing on his contact info if anyone is curious.

Best,

Molly 

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[Todd Fahrner]

I feel compelled, with regret, to clarify further that tiny houses on
wheels are not legal to inhabit in residential zones in Portland. Not
even in Cully. The dozens or more who are living the life are doing so
because their neighbors are tolerant, not filing complaints with the
Bureau of Development Services. The City has so far shown no
inclination to enforce existing Housing code in the absence of
complaints, but when neighbors do complain, they do enforce,
vigorously.

I know this because I am being effectively forced out of my beautiful
Zyl Vardos "Ark" now legally parked (but not inhabited) in the
otherwise lovely Ladd's Addition neighborhood. I have been subject to
multiple inspections to assure that no bedding, clothing, food, or
other "trappings of habitation" are present in the Tiny, with liens on
my host family threatened if these items are found. I've reached out
to parties in Mayor's and Commissioners' offices to plead my case that
my use of the tiny presents none of the "Life Fire Safety" threats
ostensibly underlying Housing code, and found sympathy but no
substantial aid. It looks like code reform, if indeed it ever happens
in a tiny-friendly way, is years out.

Meanwhile, my neighbors suck. They say the tiny brings down their
property values. It's not ugly or cheap: it costs 5x per square foot
what their $1M houses do. What it does is stand out and draw
attention, and that's apparently fatal in this hypervigilant historic
district. I've sunk $5K of already-mature bamboo trying to screen it
from view, to no avail.

I'm not saying people shouldn't take the risk of building and trying
to live in a tiny on wheels in Portland. I had a window of about 3
weeks between code enforcement waves that was wonderful. But anybody
representing it as legal is either misinformed, may have ulterior
motives (such as getting paid), or both.

--
todd

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiny-house-network/8DA9139F-969E-493D-9F04-6D1A84265111%40gmail.com.

[Dee Williams]

Well Stated!  And I'm so sorry about the frustration and need to move.  I'd love to share your story, and your ability to clearly articulate the landscape, with others through our newsletter.  Would you be open to that? Dee

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[Todd Fahrner]

Sure, Dee! Hit me up direct?

I don't plan to move. I am bound to my host family, with whom I lived
under one roof in the 2 years preceding receipt of the tiny. For now I
have moved back in to the ridiculously crowded main house, using the
tiny as little more than a gazebo or similar ornamental/leisure
structure. Am contemplating turning a tiny attached garage into a
permitted ADU to take the functional pressure off the tiny, but I blew
my budget on the tiny so have to save up. I still hope that after some
years the bamboo will grow thick enough, and the neighbors move or at
least tire of complaining, such that I can re-inhabit it eventually,
and maybe code will have changed too.

Your TEDx talk remains inspiring to me.

--
todd

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiny-house-network/CAMgKX04DLCNL2fDO%2B8VmGogyJehEPO-427WsM0OOURBqmyoOeA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Linda Pope]

IT is so frustrating. I have been trying to get a tiny house for three years now, but I can't get all the pieces lined up at the same time. And now these posts are not very encouraging! I don't have a friend where I can move into their backyard, legal or not. Any idea how to get the city interested in legalizing the tiny houses on wheels?

Linda

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--

Linda C. Pope, MLA, MS
503-939-4008 cell

“This much is clear to me. If I can’t change my own life in response to the greatest challenge now facing our human family, who can? And if I won’t make the effort to try, why should anyone else? So I’ve decided to start at home, and begin with myself. The question is no longer whether I must respond. The question is whether I can turn my response into an adventure…”

— Kurt Hoelting, author of Circumference of Home

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

[Tiny House Community]

There are some ideas here http://americantinyhouseassociation.org/

Cheers,

Elaine

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[Lina Menard]

Dear Linda,

Here is a more direct link to some suggestions for making Tiny Houses legal from the website Elaine shared: http://americantinyhouseassociation.org/5-easy-ways-for-your-town-to-become-tiny-house-friendly/. 

In Portland, OR we've been working on it. Some of us have been brainstorming and had meetings and discussed and met with city officials for about four years now. In the last year a small group of us has met with the Mayor and presented suggested policy changes. And what we often hear from city officials is that as individuals they support tiny houses but as officials they have other pressing issues they're focusing on: like access to good education, reducing traffic fatalities, addressing gang violence, etc. Portland, OR has become the epicenter of the Tiny House Universe (and the food cart movement) because of the lack of regulations that prohibit innovation. Tiny houses in Portland are regulated on a by-complaint basis whereas in some other places neighbor complaints aren't required for officials to crack down. 

Stories like Todd's are frustrating and they chip away at my otherwise enduring optimism. But there are also now hundreds (maybe thousands?!) of people living in tiny houses across the country. Here's how my community is doing it: http://www.unlikelylives.com/2015/04/lina-tiny-house-community/

Yes we want it to be legal. Yes, people are working on it. Meanwhile, the movement is gaining momentum. The rules haven't caught up to reality yet. Reality is getting more fascinating all the time.

Hang tight! The groundswell is happening! 

Sincerely,

Lina Menard

Web: Niche Consulting LLC

Blog: This Is The Little Life

503.232.3484

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[Tiny House Community]

Well said, Lina!  Lina and Linda, I’d love to share your last two emails on my website (http://tinyhousecommunity.com). Would that be okay with you?

Cheers,

Elaine

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[Linda Pope]

It is fine with me.

I also keep optimistic, but sometimes it is hard to keep your footing!

Linda

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[Tiny House Community]

Yes, I agree, sometimes it IS hard to keep your footing. Having the support of this network and other like-minded people can help :)

Thanks very much for letting me share this. 

Here’s the link: http://www.tinyhousecommunity.com/map/0724-the-rules-havent-caught-up-to-reality-yet/

Cheers,

Elaine

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[karin parramore]

Hi Linda, 

don't be discouraged! Or...maybe re-examine if you want to do this at all (not to be a bummer, but) There is a genuine adventure embedded in the tiny house journey, and adventures don't always turn out how we want them to be. Todd does not have to stay where he is--the mobility of his house means he could search for another spot, but his connection with his host family is stronger than his need to live in his house, so he is staying put. I understand that--I live in a community of tiny houses and I would be heart-broken if I had to leave. If we couldn't figure out a stop-gap measure, like Todd is doing, I would be forced to move. But...I could! That is the adventure part. I have lived in four different spots and each one brought different wonderful (and occasionally less-wonderful) moments into my experience.

Lina, my landie, and I and a handful of other folks spent months working with people in the county offices trying to determine what we would need to do to get tiny houses on the table (so to speak!). In the end, they told us they were too busy to deal with the problem and to just go do it, and try not to piss off our neighbors. We worked hard to develop an amiable relationship with our peeps around us and we have, but we are in Cully, where people seem to be more laid back. Todd was just unlucky enough to have a hard-nosed neighbor...so sorry again, Todd. 

I guess the point of this epistle is to remind you of your quote, at the end of your comment. 

The question is no longer whether I must respond. The question is whether I can turn my response into an adventure…”

— Kurt Hoelting, author of Circumference of Home

Karin Parramore, LAc, CH

formulator

Luminous Presence, LLC

www.luminouspresencepdx.com

503.504.3183

Good Life Medicine Center

827 NE Alberta St

Portland OR 97211
503.477.6670

www.goodlifepdx.com

Life is the primal sacrament; namely, the visible sign of invisible grace. John O'Donohue

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[Molly Catherine Viarengo Gray]

Thank you for clarifying and I am sorry to hear about all your struggles! I imagine uninformed (as I am learning I am too!) but who knows. 

My understanding was that it is a legal grey area, and a complaint based system of enforcement that you've run into! 

You are all inspiring and I appreciate your feedback and stories,

Molly  

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[Todd Fahrner]

Don't mean to be a downer. I wouldn't say it's a gray area, though.
With code as written, it's black and white. The grayness comes only in
the rigor of enforcement, which seems almost entirely driven by the
determination of the complainants. As the complaints have continued,
so have the inspectors changed their tone from conciliatory and
wink-wink encouraging to consolatory, discouraging, and hard-line.

Karin's right: I choose this predicament over moving someplace else in
town away from my family where neighbors would very likely leave me
alone.

I type this from inside the tiny. Who says I can't sip coffee and use
computer in the gazebo? There's a maddeningly fuzzy, shifting line
between allowed and not allowed, access and occupancy, visitation and
habitation.

--
todd

On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 8:18 AM, Molly Catherine Viarengo Gray

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiny-house-network/9AA1A957-C029-4F45-B6A6-BB33C01CD7DC%40gmail.com.