Mea Culpa. Been a busy tinyhouser.  Haven’t posted in AGES!

In 2012, I designed and built my award-winning solar movable tiny house to International Residential Code standards, and it has been my safe, affordable, and sustainable residence ever since.

Since 2020 I reluctantly became a lobbyist for my favorite housing model, movable tiny houses. I’ve spent two legislative sessions advocating for the legalization of movable tiny houses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I founded an advocacy group, the Movable Tiny House Legislative Task Force that wrote a bill to legalize this housing model for permanent housing. (Bill S1474 and H1493)

Our grassroots group has worked tirelessly to advocate for legislative change, ensuring that movable tiny houses are legally recognized as safe, affordable, and permanent housing. Despite significant progress, we still face resistance rooted in outdated perceptions of this housing model. This innovative housing option remains misunderstood, often incorrectly classified as recreational vehicles, which makes year-round living illegal and leaves residents like me vulnerable to eviction.

Movable tiny homes are more than just a housing choice; they are a critical solution to the housing crisis. These homes:

• Provide an affordable option for essential workers, seniors, students, and seasonal workforces.
• Offer sustainable living with a small carbon footprint and minimal impact on infrastructure.
• Create financial independence for homeowners and stimulate local economies by increasing disposable income spent within communities.
• Enhance housing density without straining municipal resources, making them an ideal fit for urban and rural settings alike.
• Encourage competition in the rental market, helping to stabilize housing costs.

I am so passionate about this form of housing that over the last year I have spent 9 zoom meetings a month developing the 1215 Tiny House Building standard with the International Code Council, other builders, manufacturers and code officials.

My advocacy efforts to legalize this housing option have been a challenging ten year journey. As a 3 time cancer survivor, 2 time lyme disease survivor with a 11 diagnosed disabilities, it’s been a struggle I did not want to make public. Social media responders are cruel in their assumptions that because my disabilities don’t put me in a wheelchair, walker, or hospital bed, they do NOT exist.

To give you just one example, I have sudden hearing loss in my right ear due to lyme disease. Echolocation of any sound, a simple salutation within a crowd, a question from someone in the audience when I speak or a sound signaling danger leave me helpless. I make a 360 degree turn and if I miss a visual cue I’m either guilty of non-recognition, guilty of ignoring a workshop attendee or failing to get out of the way of an oncoming cougar while hiking. The other disabilities are just as difficult to manage, compensate for and tolerate. There are good days and bad days. And like the Everready Bunny, I soldier on…living life fully brings just as much pain, injuries, accomodations and disabilities as we age as it does love, joy and happiness.

This week I served on a panel to lobby for our Bill before the 194th session. If you go to 1:31:48 to 1:47:07 you can view our in-person testimonies, here’s the link.

Here are a few links to videos and podcasts during my hiatus from posting here.

Ethan Waldman interviews:

The Reluctant Lobbyist

Tips for a Tiny House in a Pandemic

Tiny Houses built with Reused Materials, Panel from MA. Tiny House Festival

Video of the Silver Bullet Tiny House, 2022 by FLORB

Video by Deek, 2015

Updated version of my books are still available through me directly as a PDF’s if you have Venmo. Am in the process of writing another one about my legislative experience. Stay tuned. It’s a bruiser.