Last Saturday I did a photo quiz with my students during the course meeting. I showed pictures of thirteen Tiny House projects in the Netherlands and the students had to guess in which municipality those projects are located. It was a nice and playful way to show how many projects have already been established; how much has happened in such a short time. This is quite an achievement that we should all pause to consider!
Because a lot has happened in just four years. In May 2016 I was the first Dutchie with the permission of the municipality of Alkmaar and on land of the municipality, to live in a Tiny House. Creating space for a new type of housing – initiated by the people and in a country where land with housing designation is scarce and expensive – is complicated. And yet we managed to claim that space by bringing much more value than just housing alone. I would like to share the projects that I shared with my students last Saturday with you as well and I hope that you are proud of what the Tiny House movement has achieved in a short time. The list is not even complete. There are more projects with small houses, but I think that these really fit the Tiny House philosophy.
Alkmaar – Tiny House Alkmaar
Five Tiny Houses, environmental permit for up to five years.
Almere – BouwEXPO Tiny Housing
Photo Adrienne Norman commissioned by the municipality of Almere
Sixteen Tiny Houses, permanently licensed.
Delft – Pionierskwartier
Up to fourteen Tiny Houses, environmental permit for five years with a possible extension of
Den Helder – de Falgatuinen
Around thirty Tiny Houses, permanently licensed.
Hardegarijp – Tiny House straatje
Photo from the Tytsjerksteradiel municipality
Five Tiny Houses, permanently licensed.
Heemskerk – Tiny House Kennemerland
Photo by Mariska van der Velden
Four Tiny Houses, environmental permit for five years with a possible extension of another five years.
Hengelo – Tiny House Hengelo
Photo by Tiny House Hengelo
Maximum ten Tiny Houses, environmental permit for five years.
Katwijk – Duinvallei
Eight Tiny Houses, environmental permit for ten years.
Leeuwarden – Tiny House Techum
Ten Tiny Houses, permanently licensed.
Midden-Delfland – Kluit
Nine Tiny Houses, environmental permit for five years with a possible extension of another five years.
‘s-Hertogenbosch – Minitopia
Photo by Rezone / Minitopia
Thirty-two Micro houses (not just Tiny Houses), environmental permit for five years.
Ten Boer – Woldwijk
Twelve Tiny Houses, environmental permit for ten years.
Zeist – Kleinhuizen
Photo credits left picture: Kleinhuizen. Fifteen Tiny Houses, environmental permit for a year and a half. The Tiny House community “Kleinhuizen” has first inhabited a plot in Nieuwegein for over a year and a half, now the entire group has moved to Zeist.
Now isn’t this a nice list with which to end the year? Even better than the Top 2000 if you ask me and I really do love music. I think it is good to look ahead, but also occasionally to look back at what has already been achieved. We can really be proud of this list. It will be expanded considerably in 2020; I know that for a fact. More than a hundred municipalities in the Netherlands have Tiny Houses on the agenda. There are dozens of residential projects in preparation. The new website of website van Tiny House Nederland will display them all in a “database of successful Tiny House residential projects”, with useful information for municipalities about how things are organized. We are almost ready to go live.
It will be a beautiful year. I wish you very happy holidays with your loved ones and wish you a new year full of joy, love, health and contentment!
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