Santa Clara Legalizes Movable Tiny Houses

California’s tiny house legalization ripple effect is growing! On March 12, 2020, Santa Clara County approved movable tiny houses as accessory dwelling units. This the home of the insanely expensive Silicon Valley.

Read the full ordinance here.

“The County of Santa Clara has given the Green Light to Movable Tiny Homes as ADUs! The ordinance, modeled after the LA City ordinance, becomes law mid-April!

The Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ordinance has been APPROVED this week by the County Board of Supervisors. This ordinance permits Movable Tiny Houses as permissible and permanently habitable accessory dwelling units (ADU).

Suffice it to say that, now that one of California’s large urban counties recognizes Movable Tiny Homes as habitable ADU’s, it will go a long way in providing a model for other counties around the country. The Tiny Home Industry Association (THIA) has been spending many months guiding this ordinance and are very pleased with the county’s approval.”

-Dan Fitzpatrick, THIA President

Now the city of San Jose plans to follow in the county’s footsteps with a near-identical zoning ordinance. Additionally, eleven other California cities and counties could do the same over the next year. Already the state is the leader in movable tiny house acceptance, which is desperately needed.

Did you know there are approximately 151,000 homeless individuals across the state? That’s bigger than countless US cities. Beyond that, California has an ever-growing shortage of housing, let alone affordable housing.

Importantly, the legal acceptance of movable tiny houses is an incredibly practical way to provide more housing, quickly. This is most especially true when placing them on available land, like backyards.

My partner, Christian, and I are traveling tiny house dwellers. Together we’ve traveled for 4.5 years for our documentary and community education project, Tiny House Expedition. We live, breathe, dream the tiny home community every day. This is our life and our true passion. We are very grateful to be able to experience this inspiring movement in such an intimate way and to be able to share our exploration with all of you.