When Affordable Solutions to the Housing Shortage Are Illegal (Part 5)

When Sam Kleinsasser and his fiancé found a property owner willing to allow them to park their tiny house on wheels for $450 a month they thought they had struck a bargain finding an address that cheap within a reasonable commuting distance of the airport where they work. This arrangement with the homeowner worked for 3 years until the Adams county code compliance officers stepped in and declared it unlawful for violating their code that doesn’t allow anyone within their jurisdiction to live in a recreational vehicle for more than 30 days. While Sam Kleinsasser and his fiance do not live in an RV but a much sturdier built house with a small foot print on a trailer that they paid $60,000 for, it fits the technical definition of an RV, thus they were cited and given until April 13th to move it from the property. Despite being one of the few counties in the U.S. that allow tiny house villages the county still requires them to be attached to a foundation which would put the couple out another $5K and make it impossible for them to move for work. However, instead of granting the property owner a variance for this arrangement that has worked without becoming a nuisance for 3 years they’ve decided to evict the couple and forced them to spend thousands of dollars they may not have and/or relocate to a tiny home village that may not have a vacancy or be within a reasonable commuting distance to work in their cold and callous pursuit of maximizing property values.

Source: CBS News