I recently caught up with my friends and the co-producers behind Living Tiny, Legally, Alexis from Tiny House Expedition and Kai Rostcheck from I Love Tiny Houses, Tiny House Lending and Tiny House Dating. They have busy promoting their Indiegogo fundraising campaign for their documentary that will feature case studies of how a handful of cities from all over the country are making legal tiny houses and legal tiny house communities a reality.
Kent: How’s the campaign going?
Alexis: We’re off to wonderful start! Numerous tiny housers and enthusiasts have reached to personally voice their support of our project. They see the need for legal avenues for tiny houses and see the value of having another resource or tool to help further conversations with local municipal officials.
Kai: The outpouring of support from leaders across the tiny house movement and industry has been tremendous. We received incredible donations to use as perks for our Indiegogo. For those already in the market for great tiny house product and services, our campaign is a wonderful way to get them at deep discounts while contributing to a great cause.
Kent: Legal tiny house parking and other legalities around tiny housing, has definitely been a top question on the Tiny House Blog over the past several years. What’s your primary goal for this documentary?
Kai: Our goal is to legitimize conversations about legal Tiny Housing, and to provide a proactive, illustrative resource for those seeking to bring tiny houses to their city but don’t know where to start. At the 2015 Tiny House Jamboree (over 40,000 tiny house enthusiasts attended), we heard loud and clear that the #1 issue preventing more people from going tiny is Zoning and other legal issues surrounding tiny housing. We’re committed to changing this by enrolling the support of communities who have already figured out, or want to figure out how Tiny Houses can work for their residents.
Alexis: Tiny houses are the path to more freedom for many. Many significant barriers stand in the way, especially if someone wants live in a tiny home on a full-time basis.There are many engaged citizens, wonderful groups & city officials working to update regulations to allow for clarification around tiny houses AND allow for more legal avenues for full-time tiny house living.
We’re committed to doing our part to legalize tiny houses by enrolling the support & telling the stories of communities who have already figured out, or want to figure out how Tiny Houses can work for their residents.
Kent: The Tiny House Blog has donated one of the perks- all the Tiny House Magazines in PDF format. And what are some of the other available perks?
Alexis: A very popular perk is a full weekend pass to the Tiny House Jamboree plus t-shirt for a $20 donation– a $60 value! There’s a limited number available. Also there are a few phone consultations options from inspiring folks like Andrew Odom, BA Norrgard, Sean D. Burke. Consult and design your dream tiny home with Sean! Plus transforming A-frame plans from Relaxshacks and more!
Kai: Also we’re offering a featured logo sponsorship perk. Many top tiny house builders and companies have contributed because they see the value in helping their clients achieve their tiny house dreams, legally. The list includes Tiny House Jamboree, Rocky Mountain Tiny Homes, Tiny House Build, Eco Cabins, Jamaica Cottage Shop, Tiny Homes Classified and RVwithME.com. All of the individual contributions (ranging from $1 to $100) are appreciated, and it’s especially important that we see even more support these kind of “institutional” supporters; business who stand to gain the most as Tiny Living becomes legalized.
Kent: You’re making a big push to reach your goal by January 21st when the campaign ends. What happens if you don’t reach your goal?
Alexis: We definitely chose Indiegogo because of the flexible funding option, where you can keep the funds you do raise. If we don’t meet our goal, we will use the existing funds to cover travel expenses (so we can visit and film the communities who are already on board with the project). We may have to extend our timeline, won’t be able to get certain equipment that would be extremely helpful to us, and could end up exploring other potential avenues for funding, (including more sponsorship requests) in order to cover the extensive post-production time that’s required to turn raw footage into a great story.
We also hope people will keep in mind that this is a not-for-profit project. We’ve put much of our own money into making this happen because we have passion for tiny house advocacy & for helping others. We will do everything in our power to accomplish the same goal and will release a finished film as a free resource for all who want to live tiny legally.
Kai: Our fundraising goal seems like a big number but is actually fairly modest compared to many other professional film projects. The cool thing is there are tens of thousands of tiny house enthusiasts out there, as the Tiny House Jamboree showed us. If everyone who attended the Jamboree gave just one dollar, we’d easily reach our goal. Pretty incredible; every tiny bit definitely helps.
Kent: I truly hope your campaign is successful and that your documentary can help others have meaningful conversations with their local officials. Legal tiny houses are needed.
Alexis: Thank you for your support!
Kai: Yes, thank you!
Alexis, Christian and Kai need your help to reach their fundraising goal. Please visit their Indiegogo to learn more and to make your contribution today.
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