The future of affordable housing on Hawaii Island could be tiny.
The future of affordable housing on Hawaii Island could be tiny.
Legislation introduced this session by Rep. Cindy Evans (D- North Kohala, South Kohala, Kona) would allow for so-called “tiny homes” — houses that are less than 500 square feet — to be built on agricultural-zoned land for farm workers. House Bill 2 is specific to Hawaii Island.
A second bill, House Bill 1373, would authorize counties to provide zoning exemptions for tiny houses.
On Saturday, Evans, as well as Hawaii County Councilman Tim Richards and representatives from Hawaii County Councilwoman Jen Ruggles’ office, attended a community meeting hosted by One Island, a South Kona-based sustainabiliy and education organization, to discuss the legislation and how to support local tiny homes.
Held at the Algood Farm in Hawi, the meeting drew about 40 attendees from around the island, with Puna, Hilo, Honokaa and Waimea all represented.
Tiny houses have become more common across the country over the past decade; in 2015, more than 60,000 people attended the National Tiny House Jamboree in Colorado. In some cases, the houses are the choice of minimalists seeking to downsize, or environmentalists seeking a lower carbon footprint. In other cases, people build their own tiny homes to avoid having a costly mortgage.
One Island became interested in tiny houses as a potential answer to a problem many farmers in Hawaii are familiar with: finding affordable housing for employees. The organization has a 10-acre farm in Honaunau; one of its goals is finding solutions to Hawaii’s ongoing food security and works to find solutions to Hawaii’s ongoing food security challenges.
“If we’re going to be truly self-reliant … we have to have people that are going to grow that food,” Richards said. “If we focus in on that — in order to have people who are going to work the land we have to have the housing for people.”
Richards said he also saw tiny housing as a way to address Hawaii Island’s existing homeless population as well as people vulnerable to homelessness because they cannot afford rising rent.
“It started with farming, but it has so many other applications,” said One Island co-founder Marcy Montgomery.
Evans has introduced similar measures before, which she said tend to raise concerns from those in the hotel and time-share community about whether the housing would be used for vacation rentals.
“They play by the rules, and they’re concerned when people don’t play by the rules,” Evans said. “We get caught up in that discussion, and we forget the real discussion, which is (that) farmers want to live where they work.”
“Sometimes a farmer is leasing a lot, and they’re not allowed to live on it,” Montgomery said. “Sometimes they have enough acres that they would like to (support) young farmers, but can’t (because of zoning).”
Saturday’s session was intended as a starting point for raising awareness of the new legislation.
“I think a lot of my colleagues haven’t heard of this yet,” Evans said. “Part of our job now is to educate other legislators who really don’t understand the tiny house movement that is here — and it’s a really good movement — and how clever and creative it is.”
Barrie Rose and Johanna Tilbury of Habitats Hawaii, which designs and builds mobile tiny homes on the Big Island, gave an overview of some of the housing they have worked on over the past several years. The homes cost between $55,000 and $80,000 and are solar-equipped with full electricity and plumbing.
“I’ve been a builder for 30-something years,” Tilbury said. “I got tired of the permit process … it used to take six months, and now it’s three months.”
“We build these little houses on wheels,” she continued. “They’re registered with the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles).”
The homes, which Tilbury and Rose presented on a slideshow, were individually designed and featured everything from lofted space to skylights to small breakfast nooks. One home, originally built in Waimea, has since moved to five different locations.
“These aren’t just little boxes,” Rose said. “These aren’t little containers that are stacked one by one.”
State Rep. Brian Lee has also expressed support for the project, as have state Senators Mike Gabbard, Josh Green and Russell Ruderman.
“It is all about collaboration,” Montgomery said. “The only way this is going to happen is if we work on this together.”
A second tiny house community session will be held in Honokaa from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 22, at the Hawaiian Cultural Center of Hamakua. For more information, visit https://www.oneisland.org/hawaii/home-is-where-the-farm-is-tiny-houses-for-farmers.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.