Industry leaders in tiny home building say 2020 was a record year for the business due to the pandemic, according to a recent Insider article by Frank Olito. Going into 2021, the companies that produce tiny homes are hoping to carry that momentum into this year and “focus on turning tiny houses into a legitimate form of housing—first by defining who the tiny-house movement is for and then by determining how it will benefit the country.”
In the eyes of most local governments in the U.S., tiny houses are considered illegal. There are no building codes for tiny houses, which means they aren't being built to a certain safety standard. Plus, tiny houses aren't mentioned in most local zoning codes, so it's very difficult to find a place to legally park a tiny house in the U.S.
The Tiny Home Industry Association (THIA) worked closely with local municipalities to legalize tiny houses throughout 2020. The organization's main goal is to create a definitive definition for tiny houses so that they can be differentiated from RVs.
In early 2020, THIA and its president, Dan Fitzpatrick, earned a big win when Los Angeles legalized tiny houses as accessory dwelling units, allowing people to park their movable tiny homes on zoned properties. Since Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the country, Zack Giffin, host of "Tiny House Nation" and vice president of THIA, called it "the biggest thing that has ever happened to the tiny house world" on his Instagram. The ordinance helped spark San Jose and San Diego to follow suit.
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