Here in the middle of the country we call a neighborhood that looks like that a trailer park.

"...part of a national backlash against McMansions...." , what, are these people jealous about others having big homes, so hey, we´ll show them, we´ll live in a shed!

We have seen these homes before. Hey, better than living in the street, but why do I always get the feeling that these are the same people that drive hybrids....not because they will save money because they don´t, but because they feel they are making some sort of statement?

Hey, if it floats your boat, have at it. Excuse me though, I have to pull my car into my 3 car garage before it gets rained on. Color me a bad guy.

I don´t know how anyone can afford to buy a place in DC. My daughter had her eye on a friend´s apartment in the building next door. The efficiency was for sale for $200,000, but the yearly taxes were $1,000/month.

Not as bad an idea as it sounds. But basically it won´t work. Wide open to crime, the homeless, and various other annoyances.

There are reasons large cities developed as they did. And the result was not tiny separate homes.

The home designers do some fine work. These units make more sense for people of limited means in rural areas or quiet towns where lots can be nearly free.

You can get a nice looking 10´x20´shed at Home Depot for lot less than 50K.

I think building nice "down sized" home is great idea for those starting out or those of us left with too much house after the kids are gone. These are a bit extreme.

BTW...did I miss something?
What does "propping up" mean? They used it severl times. I would assume the term they meant was "popping up"

And this little neighborhood will be a shanty town within a decade.

This is the future of Obama´s America.

As empty nesters realize, less to take care of enables travel... Or with Obamanomics .. Food.

I actually am charmed by the micro living notion.. But as a choice not because economic dictates.

They´re building these things with wheels. This will end up being the new Occupy (fill-in-the-blank) shelters.

These shouldn´t cost $20-50K. This past summer, I had a really nice 120 storage shed installed by my wife´s garden. The place that makes them sells many different styles. They are used for sauna´s, pool houses (for changing/showers) garages and, of course, storage. I built potting benches and shelving into one end of ours for my wife. We did comment that it looked like a miniature house inside - prior to having interior walls completed. It was delivered by a special trailer that just slid it down onto a level gravel bed. It has two doors (one double and one single) and four windows. It cost around $3,500 delivered, leveled and anchored and is really cute and well built. Smaller ones start at less than half that. As a house, I think it would cost another $2K to insulate and finish the interior. A row of them, however, would indeed look like a trailer court.

Sorry for the double post. The size of our shed was 10´ by 20´. When I did it before, the posting software somehow treated it as a math problem??

Not rational, it´s 21st century conspicuous consumption just as are Prius´. If this weren´t so, they´d do something reasonable, like buy a $2000 shed at Home Depot.

When I saw a documentary on this, the toilet was a chair that had a removable top. You pooped into a box. The guy claimed there was stuff in there that kept it from smelling.

I always wondered, where did he dump it when it got full?

Do each of these have a connection to some sort of shared septic tank?

Talk about a potential horror show.

If these things are build on wheels:
they can disappear quickly
you can be forced to relocate by the controlling govt agency
your lot rent and utilities can skyrocket
your neighbors might live too close for comfort.
It looks like a campground with tiny cabins.
Article didn´t mention if there are traditional water/sewer hookups.
My apt is about 700 sq feet- I´m happy with it. I can afford it until the bloated government agencies raise my taxes in order to regulate me.

Notice that it is a trailer, on wheels?

What is to keep some thief from hooking it up behind his truck and stealing your home, and all of y our possessions? Possibly with you inside?

Just did some reading.

Many people use their poop for compost. How is that done? You throw it in the corner of your lot, throw straw on it to help keep down the stink and 2 YEARS later it is ready to use in your vegetable garden. While its rotting out in the open, there are gadgets you can put over the poop to gather up the gas, then pipe the poop gas into your house for cooking!

People are nuts.

Hooverville=Obamaville

$20K to $50K is about the range for a really nice fifth wheel that has all the comfort of home. That´s about 10 X 35 feet. Some come with slideouts that give more space and all of them are plumbed with fresh water and sewer hookups, cable TV, phone lines, furnaces, air conditioners, and the like.

My thoughts? Why, go for it people. What ever floats your boat. By the way, I lived in a 35 foot aft cabin sailboat for about ten years and now about fifteen years in a fifth wheel trailer. Twenty five years of living small and I am just tickled to death. It suits me just fine. It really does grow on you and sometimes I feel nostalgic when I remember the houses I used to live in and the huge rooms and huge garage and the huge backyard and huge bedrooms.... I can see the attraction for some to shrink the envelope just to have something that nobody else has. These places are really nice it looks like to me. Small and nice. Inexpensive, not cheap.

#18, I like ´em too. And I hate McMansions. They´re a blight on the landscape.

However I would not ever live in DC. Nor try to raise a family in a Tiny House. Nor keep a large dog. For those things you need a bigger place. The 110 year old Victorian I live in now was great for those purposes -- but if spouse and I ever downsize, we will consider a Tiny House.

There is sensible living and then there is desperate living. Don´t kid yourself. This is the only way a whole generation will avoid sharing a room with someone. Live it up kids and pray that you still have a functioning currency system in 4 years.

One of my three closests is bigger than that house.

#18, I also lived in a sailboat for years, then Mexico, and after that a motorhome. Loved all of it so now I´m back to Mexico in a very large house. As for these little things, what´s the big deal? They invented park models years ago. Not sure I see a difference.

We´ve been able to build things like these for many, many decades. Just about no one did.

Doesn´t that suggest they´re not the product of free choice? And if not, what does drive that decision? And why?

Hmmm.

Exactly #17. Agenda 21 file cabinets!!

I hate McMansions too. They are definitely a blight on society also. I prefer a normal sized ranch-style home on a nice big piece of property that leaves lots of space between me and my neighbors as well as big front and back yards to enjoy the outdoors. That is my American Dream.

I am amazed how supposedly conservatives on this board have such an issue with "McMansions". Jealous? How exactly are they a blight? Man buys himself a plot of land, and builds what he wishes on it, in accordance with local codes and laws. Then lives in it, and if it is a bigger house, even pays greater taxes on it than you probably do.

Did I just step into the Huffington post with requisite liberal sniveling? Wow. Do you guys hate guys who drive pickups too?

Obamominiums.

Ah yes, the American dream. A 200 Square foot home.

They look robust and stout. Enough to withstand a stiff 30mph breeze.

I´m with #10. These things are mass produced by Pennsylvania Amish. We have one (8´x14´). Cost $3k delivered. Now has electric and cold water as well.

Should be able to get a 200sq ft shack insulated and plumbed for well under 10K. These DC dudes are getting ripped off.

The new normal...

#15...apparently you have never looked at a trailer hitch up close. They have a hole in the lever to put a lock through it. That way someone can´t just drop the hitch on a ball and run off with your trailer. If you have a good quality safety lock they´ll have a hard time getting it off to steal the trailer.

I have a thick lock on the trailer hitch on a utility trailer. One night a guy backed his pickup to it. When he saw the lock, and a small card that said "smile you´re on candid camera", he quickly made his escape, just before I got out there with my shotgun.

Surveillance cameras are a good thing these days.

What a joke! They are rich, rich, rich in D.C. and have no clue about what they have unleased upon the rest of the country. The highest Misery Index in my lifetime!

They are just doing this to minimize their property taxes. They are cheating the school children of D.C. They must be made to pay typical house property taxes...it´s for the chirrun.