Findings from a technical panel in March were presented at the conference, more work still to be done
Hope Lompe
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder
The tiny home saga continues as local elected officials gathered at the UBCM conference last month in Victoria. On Sept. 23, nearly 150 delegates filed into a conference room at 7:30 am to hear findings from a March technical panel on the issue.
The findings were presented by Tobi Elliott, Islands Trust Trustee for Gabriola, Mudge, and DeCourcy Islands, alongside four other elected officials from Nanaimo, the Gulf Islands, and the Okanagan.
The main breakthrough finding from the technical panel, Elliott says, was learning that manufacturers in attendance were building very close to the manufactured home standard, and they would not need to make too many significant changes to their building process to bring tiny homes in line with manufactured homes.
Many tiny homes have previously been built to a Canadian Standards Association (CSA) recreational vehicle (RV) building standard, which is not allowable for permanent long-term dwelling.
CSA standards for manufactured homes, however, are allowable for permanent living.
Allocating a proper building code to tiny homes, and defining where they land in terms of a house, RV or trailer is partly down to the growing pains of a novel industry, only truly in existence for the past 10-15 years, says Elliott.
Manufacturers building to the manufactured home CSA standard gave the inspectors in the room enough confidence to sign off on the idea, a provincial first Elliott says.
“They emerged from that meeting saying, ‘We can issue a building permit for a tiny house on wheels.’ Which is really the first time in B.C. that that has been agreed to by a building inspector,” says Elliott.
Elliott and her co-presenters took this information to the UBCM conference, hoping this would be a step toward an increased production and more allowable legal tiny homes in B.C.
She adds people who have the zoning to build accessory structures might not want to go through the process of obtaining a building permit, or going through the effort of building a permanent structure for long term rentals. She adds even if there is zoning for it, those houses aren’t being built. The option for a tiny home as a legal accessory dwelling provides a different option that somebody who owns their tiny home on wheels, if it is built to a manufactured standard, and there is a site plan for septic and potable water, that homeowner could get a building permit for it.
Before, they wouldn’t have issued a building permit for something on wheels, says Elliott. With this new information it provides a different type of housing that could not be legally permitted before.
Their UBCM presentation was well attended by government representatives from across B.C., most of which Elliott says were working on housing, with many from rural districts. Elliott adds they got lots of questions from people all over the province who showed a lot of interest in what they had to say.
In addition to the presentation, Islands Trust also set up a meeting at UBCM with the Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs.
“We had a good 20 minute meeting, and were able to present the report …and they were very excited,” says Elliott.
Elliott also connected with the minister themselves ahead of the conference, who also showed excitement for the idea.
“It raised quite a bit of buzz. I can’t say who exactly for sure, but I think most people were aware that tiny homes were on the radar, and there was a good news story about it,” says Elliott.
Building to the manufactured home standard may make sense for manufacturers with existing operations, but can pose a greater challenge to individual builders. Part of the CSA standard requires an enclosed factory away from the elements, and potential thousands in added inspection fees.
Vanessa Craig, RDN board chair and director for Electoral Area B acknowledges this is more challenging for individual builders.
“[It’s] far more challenging, because B.C. building code is not optional,” says Craig. It’s meant to ensure health and safety of the people in buildings, and whether or not you think that that is the right standard, is always a question that people may debate, but currently, that is the standard.”
“The challenge of existing or do it yourself tiny homes is one of the things that hasn’t been figured out yet,” she adds. “If there’s changes made at the federal level with a tiny home standard, then that will eventually filter through to the B.C. building code.”
The RDN submitted a resolution to the UBCM at this year’s conference, which in part, resolved to create a new code category for tiny homes, to not have them classified as either an RV or a manufactured home.
Craig also says there’s a lot of work yet to be done on addressing existing tiny homes, recognizing that they’re important homes for people while also wanting to bring them up to compliance with the building codes.
“It’s a question of risk and how local governments want to balance the need for housing with meeting the B.C. Building Code, which is the standard which has been established to promote health and safety,” says Craig. “Again, people can live and meet the B.C. building code in a tiny home that’s built to a standard that allows year round living.”
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