One fire-ravaged county and city just approved RVs and trailers for temporary housing The devastating wildfires that swept through California?s North Bay this month burned well over 100,000 acres and destroyed thousands of homes in their paths. As the region begins to rebuild, one immediate solution for the urgent need of housing could be more tiny homes.
On Tuesday, Sonoma County and its city of Santa Rosa?which lost five percent of total housing in the wildfires?approved new ordinances that would allow affected individuals to temporarily live in parked RVs and travel trailers, as well as offer waived or reduced permit fees for building secondary dwelling units on existing properties. The goal of these new rules is to help rehouse folks who lost their homes in the fires as soon as possible. And, in some cases, the process has already begun. As NBC reports, Santa Rosa couple, Charlie McEvoy, a contractor, and his wife, Andrea, are building tiny homes for people who lost everything. They?ve started on one house already, and hope to raise enough funds for one or two more. Each structure will have a kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping area, taking up about as much space as an RV. Their phone has reportedly been ?been ringing off the hook? because of the great demand and the couple is currently going through a permit process to complete their project legally.
Meanwhile, Escape Homes, a major RV-certified tiny house builder based in Wisconsin, has begun offering ?fire and ...