Off Deadline: Tiny space, big dreams
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Just off Melrose Avenue near the UI’s Boyd Law Building, nestled between two trees and propped up on a trailer bed, sits a house built in inches rather than feet.
This 140-square-foot dwelling is smaller than the average-sized dorm room and looks similar to a tree fort children long to own.
But for nearly six years, it has served as Gregory Johnson’s home.
The UI technology-support specialist doesn’t own a car, nor does he pay a mortgage. Until two months ago, the 45-year-old didn’t have running water or electricity. His tiny home had just the basic necessities — a loft, a place to store clothes, and a porch to read on.
The smell of camping lingers in the walls that span only as far as he can reach, and the cobwebs create an illusion of a log cabin pitched in the middle of the forest. But this small, quaint home sits on the east side of his parents’ property.
Although Johnson recently made the switch to a small apartment roughly twice the size of his tiny home, he said his goal to inform others of the benefits of simplistic living is not over.
“What I’ve learned over the last six years is that the fewer material objects one owns, the less stress one has,” he said. “Something all people can appreciate.”
As Johnson stood next to the porch — only wide enough for a folding chair — he said size was the only issue that kept him and his fiancée, Makur Jain, from continuing to live in the home. She noted with a laugh that she also needed a properly working bathroom.
Though Johnson knows this is not the most convenient lifestyle, he hopes people can take parts of his life and apply them to their own. He stressed that living with the basic essentials takes some getting used to, but it promotes a rewarding, eco-friendly way of life.
Developing a routine is at the core of successfully living in such a non-materialistic lifestyle. Johnson’s began in the summer of 2001.
“I would wake up, ride my bike to the gym [rain or snow], shower, and get ready there,” he said. “Then, I would go on with my day. I didn’t see the point of paying for something like water.”
Changing where and how he started his day, he was able to stay disconnected from the city’s grid and pay $15 to $30 a month on heat. He maintained a relatively normal lifestyle by taking advantage of utilities from different resources. Because Johnson didn’t have electricity or running water, he powered his appliances at work and showered at the gym.
“I made a few small changes and saved a lot of money,” he said.
Jain, a UI graduate student, said the first time she saw the house, she was taken aback by just how small it was.
“It was so dark the first time I saw his house,” she said and laughed. “I remember thinking, ‘OK, where is the rest of the house?’ ”
A native of Lucknow, India, she shares Johnson’s outlook on life. Her father instilled in her a lifestyle of having only necessary items while she was growing up, she said.
“He always told me if you need two pairs of shoes, OK, or if you need two outfits, OK, but don’t worry about having more than you need.”
Both Johnson and Jain are drawn to what they call the simple “college life” living style, where everything they own has a practical use.
In fact, they recently moved all their possessions into the bathroom at their new apartment in order for a maintenance crew to change the carpeted floor to hardwood.
“I think that is when I realized just how few things we own,” Jain said. In fact, the couple doesn’t even own a bed; they sleep on yoga mats and find it just as comfortable.
Johnson isn’t the first UI employee to live this way. With the help of a former UI art Professor Jay Shafer — now a co-owner of Tumble Weed Tiny House Co. in California — Johnson spent the summer in 2001 building his home and downgrading his way of living.
“I moved things out little by little,” Johnson said. “What I didn’t need I left behind. I wanted to know what it would be like to live as simply as possible.”
Shafer’s home designs have been featured by the New York Times, CNN, and even Oprah Winfrey.
Like Johnson, Shafer’s involvement with the tiny-homes movement is all about practical living. Not wanting to pay rent or a mortgage, either, he built a home he could pay off quickly.
Shafer cofounded Tumble Weed because he recognized the need for something that would change how much Americans were spending on living expenses.
“These homes have the ability to bring a second income to people that have extra living space in their backyards and need help paying off high mortgage loans,” he said.
Other green builders have seen similar results.
Shay Salomon, the author of Little House on a Small Planet, said that with the recent trend in the housing market, it is growing harder to buy and build large houses.
“The current mortgage crisis is destroying or at least changing people’s dreams,” she said. “The dream of ‘bigger is better’ is quickly fading.”
When Salomon first got in the market of building tiny homes, she primarily catered to two types of people — families looking for a second, third, or fourth vacation home and individuals fed up with the “McMansion” trend.
“Now, I’m seeing people who want a primary residence or a guest unit in their backyard that they can rent out,” she said.
Shafer can see a growth of interest in tiny homes. In 2007, he sold more than 250 sets of plans and 10 houses — exceeding his combined totals from 2001-2006. Now, he is transitioning into holding workshop sessions on how to build smaller.
“Business just seems to get better as the economy and housing market gets worse,” he said.
As of now, four states have changed their zoning ordinances to accommodate tiny homes in urban cities. However, the Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission is reluctant to embrace these homes.
Jann Ream, the Iowa City code-enforcement assistant, said these homes do not fit into the current zoning ordinance primarily because of their size.
“A home must be 20 feet wide for 75 percent of its length,” she said. “Thus, the smallest square-footage allowed by Iowa City is 335 square feet.”
Appearance plays a major role in the decision-making process as well, and she said some still feel these tiny dwellings are unattractive.
“It is bad for neighbors who want to sell their homes and around the corner there is this small house with lots of propane tanks cluttering the front yard,” Ream said. “Although we are a free country, we still have to think about others.”
There have been only two incidences in which individuals sought permits to build small homes on plots of land in Iowa City. The first was Shafer and the second, Johnson. Though Johnson’s request was denied, and the city amended the ordinance, he was able to live in his home for nearly six years, because, he said, the city picked the location where his house could sit.
After his attempt to change the ordinance, officials created new provisions to permit accessory dwellings, but with one stipulation: They had to be attached to some aspect of the main home.
Otherwise, officials considered them mobile homes and could only be on an individual’s property for 45 days per year.
Ream said the city likes the idea of allowing individuals extra housing that is attached to their houses, because it gives the elderly the ability to have an extra set of hands and also provides an extra source of income.
She was less than optimistic about whether the city would consider revamping its current plan.
“It has always been this way; there would have to be a definite trend,” she said. “I don’t see us ever changing the ordinance.”
Although Johnson moved out of his tiny home, he still feels houses such as his have a place in the community.
“Not all communities will embrace these homes like mine did,” he said. “But there are clear advantages to them that I think towns will come to realize.”
Kurt Cunningham is a senior studying journalism and mass communication, with a double minor in History and English. He currently works as the design and graphics editor at The Daily Iowan. He hopes to land a job writing for a news publication upon graduation.
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