New York Times, February 10, 2023, Are Tiny Homes a Solution to the Housing Crisis?
A tug of war is being waged over the size of the American home.
Pulling in one direction are the forces of expansion: the well-financed dream for many of a sprawling single-family house; the NIMBY activism that prevents the incursions of multifamily buildings into low-density neighborhoods; and — not least, in the age of Covid — the desire to contain one’s life and work under a single roof without losing one’s mind.
Lining up on the other side are the powers of compression: shrinking family sizes; rising energy costs; and policies that seek to relieve today’s affordable housing crisis by creating more apartments and micro homes.
