At a recent District committee meeting, there was a lot of enthusiasm for identifying land in Squamish that could be used for “experimental” affordable housing – where people could finaly, legally, park their own tiny homes.
The idea is exciting. Tiny homes are charming, put a priority on environmentalism and could help ease the housing crunch.
But for all the hype, I can’t help but wonder – what’s the real difference between a tiny home community and a trailer park?
One is a trend of the 1950s. The other is a trend of the 2010s. Cultural perceptions also have to play a part.
Whether you’ve watched Trailer Park Boys or not, the show probably brings up the mental image of bad haircuts, heavy drinking and beer bellies. If we lived in a world where Tiny House Boys was a television show, the ensuing hijinks would probably involve Instagram and a lot of homemade kombucha.
Of course, stereotypes are just stereotypes. Especially in a community like Squamish, where cute mobile homes with hardwood floors go up on the market for $200,000, trailer living has less of a stigma attached.
Right now tiny homes aren’t legal in the District of Squamish, but the District and the mayor are enthusiastic about the idea.
Mayor Patricia Heintzman said when she started on council, there was discussion about redeveloping aging RV parks. In the end council decided that the diversity of housing options needed to be protected and that RV parks were valuable to the community.
A decade or so later the new Cheekeye development in Brackendale has space set aside for a small “tiny home village.”
I’m embarrassed to admit that while I once thought of trailers as homely, I’ve also wasted many afternoons thinking about what I could do with rent money if I was living out of my old Ford Escape (being a writer may be interesting, but it’s far from lucrative).
At the same time I wouldn’t think twice to use words like “innovative” and “revolutionary” and “modern” to describe tiny homes.
Ads praising “America’s new way to live” emphasized livability, mobility and affordability – all the things tiny homes enthusiasts are looking for too. Old is new again.
Tiny homes are a great step forward in giving Squamish some more housing options, and whether it’s a DIY job or a modular home manufacturer, the focus on efficient building materials and green energy deserves a lot of praise.
All that to say, I get the appeal. But sometimes when we try to reinvent the wheel (or just housing on wheels) we make things more complicated than they need to be.
