TINY HOMES

housing options for Coloradans priced out of the traditional housing market, Kipp said.

“We have such a housing a ordability crisis,” said Kipp, who cosponsored House Bill 1242 during the 2022 legislative session. “We are giving people another option to where to live.” e bill directed the state Division of Housing to draft rules, including a standard for permanent residency of tiny homes, that took e ect July 1. e new law calls for standards to connect tiny homes to utilities, including water, sewer, natural gas and electricity.

In Larimer County, o cials will treat tiny homes like other structures that had not been permitted for full-time occupancy, but set a path for prospective owners toward getting a building permit, said Eric Fried, the county’s chief building o cial.

Building permits allowing permanent residency will be granted if an applicant complies with zoning, setbacks, ood plain and other land use code rules, gets certi ed by a Colorado professional engi- neer, master electrician and master plumber, and otherwise follows rules for bedroom emergency escape and rescue openings, sanitation, ventilation and wild re hazards, Fried said.

Local governments will establish their own rules for tiny homes, he said.

“I assume some local governments will adopt similar rules, some may prohibit non-state approved tiny homes entirely, and others may be more lenient than us. It will be up to each authority having jurisdiction,” Fried said in an email.

Some cities and towns in Colorado have already made tiny home living “legal,” including El Paso and Park counties, Durango, Leadville, Lyons and Woodland Park, Laubach said. He said in a news release that he backed the state legislation because it will make tiny home living a “more viable option.

“ e legislation will protect consumers by setting standards for tiny home building and manufacturing in Colorado,” Laubach said. “ e legislation will also provide a path for counties to recognize tiny homes as permanent dwellings and open up nancing opportunities.”

Longmont’s Veterans Community Project depends on donations and sweat equity from 90 community partners. Many volunteers show up in the mornings to put nishing touches on the tiny home village, which is set to accept residents by the end of the year, Seybold said.

Many of the people who will be housed in the village now are living in cars, shelters or are sleeping on couches in a friend’s house, Seybold said. “ ey really are living in fairly tenuous situations. ere is not a lot of stability, which hurts them when they are trying to get on their feet, get permanent homes or jobs.” e village rests on 2 acres west of the Boulder County Fairgrounds and includes community spaces such as a re pit for veterans to gather around. e group also recently opened a 3,000-square-foot community center, where veterans will be able to see case managers to work on problems with health, employment, nancial stability and social isolation, Seybold said. e tiny home village is being developed alongside attached duplexes for Habitat for Humanity and 110 single-family homes and 149 townhomes as part of the 66acre Mountain Brooks subdivision. e neighborhood is located south of Rogers Road and west of Hover Street. e venture between the city of Longmont, Veterans Community Project and HMS Development — the builder of the subdivision — is the rst in the country to integrate the tiny homes with a high-end developer of single family homes. “A lot of those homes will go for $500,000 to $1 million,” Seybold said. “But that is something we want. To let our veterans be part of an overall community.” is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

Most will stay up to a year before they strike out on their own, she said. ey will have case managers working with them once they leave.

Last year, the Longmont City Council voted unanimously to waive about $189,582 in development fees for the tiny home village. It was an easy decision, Waters, the Longmont councilman, said, since the work done there to get veterans back into society is likely to bring bene ts in the future.

“I think it was a small investment that is going to reap bene ts later on,” Waters said.