MOTHER EARTH NEWS

My Tiny House Life

The tiny house movement is currently being driven by demographics. In 1960, the American dream house was a three-bedroom, two-bath, two-car garage to accommodate a married couple with children. More than half a century later, the number of singleperson households in the United States is about 35 million, and expected to increase to 41 million by 2030. The takeaway? The great American dream house is rapidly becoming outdated.

With baby boomers entering retirement and more professional single folks in the marketplace, the demand for quality, small, custom housing is rising. People are asking themselves, “How much is enough?”

I once asked myself a similar question, and since then have been enjoying life in a tiny home. I learned that “small” in housing can be beautiful, functional, economical, and ecological.

A Long, Long Time Ago

My awareness of tiny houses began in the late 1970s as one of the first graduate students enrolled in Indiana University’s Graduate School of Public and Environmental Affairs. One of our reading assignments was , a book that deeply affected my personal understanding of the consequences of

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