Councilmember Introduces Bill That Would Build 1,000 Tiny Houses For Millennials in DC

• November 3, 2015
• 7 Comments

by UrbanTurf Staff

A tiny house in DC.

Councilmember Vincent Orange must’ve read the results of the ULI survey on millennials in the region.

On Tuesday, Orange introduced a very peculiar piece of legislation focused on providing more housing for millennials in the city. Specifically, the bill proposes construction of 1,000 homes, measuring out at around 600 square feet each, around DC. The homes would be sold for a maximum of $50,000 to residents ages 18 to 33 (mind you, this age restriction violates fair housing) and those making minimum wage.

Orange envisions the tiny homes would have a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom, but there is no mention of a living room in the bill. Orange would like 125 of these homes located in each of the city’s eight wards.

Needless to say, UrbanTurf believes that the bill is quite a longshot to pass.

The home pictured above is the Minim House.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/councilmember_introduces_bill_that_would_build_1000_tiny_houses_for_millenn/10544

7 Comments

1. gee said at 10:28 pm on Tuesday November 3, 2015:
   you would think there is an election coming up

1. kpanik said at 1:17 am on Wednesday November 4, 2015:
   Aww someone saw Tiny House Hunters on HGTV and thought it was cute.

1. Brian said at 2:52 pm on Wednesday November 4, 2015:
   Picture is of the Minim House located at DC's Micro Showcase.

1. mike226 said at 8:34 pm on Wednesday November 4, 2015:
   I think Orange needs to start doing his job and stop worrying about people who can buy their own houses on their own. Give me a break, it's no wonder DC government has the reputation it has!

1. common sense said at 8:36 pm on Wednesday November 4, 2015:
   Millennials will have to live in tiny houses to afford beer prices after Vincent Orange gets rid of the tip credit. If this guy gets re-elected DC millennials will be paying $15 per beer with French style service ...

1. Johnny said at 8:59 pm on Wednesday November 4, 2015:
   I love tiny houses, but they're not efficient for cities since they only go up 1 level. Instead of tiny houses, they should allow more pop ups and condo conversion in residential area. Yes, it's an eyesore if there's only one popup on the block, but I noticed that if one goes up, in one or two years, the neighboring ones would go up as well. Then everything looks normal again.

1. Tom in Michigan Park said at 10:28 pm on Wednesday November 4, 2015:
   As a boomer within 10-15 years of retirement, I'm all for policies aimed at keeping Millenials in DC. They're the lifeblood of booming neighborhoods across the city. However, aside from issues such as fair housing age-restrictions and using scarce sites at inefficient densities, has the CM considered land acquisition costs, or will these units be built entirely on city-owned land sufficient to accommodate 125 units in each ward? What about construction costs? What is the annual net subsidy that taxpayers will have to underwrite for this? Sounds like yet another useless legislative endeavor by CM Orange.