Eureka hosts tiny house ordinance workshop

On Monday, May 13th, community members are invited to an ordinance drafting workshop here at the Agricultural Center in Eureka. The effort will be focusing on building tiny home villages and emergency housing. 

“There are people in the community that are actively engaged in meeting the needs of the unhoused population. and so we really want to hear from them, in terms of what would be beneficial.  it does no good to adopt an ordinance that doesn’t meet the basic needs of what providers are trying to do. So we absolutely want to hear from them and work with them. We want to hear from the public”, says John Ford, director of planning and building in Humboldt. 

1 out of 5 people in Humboldt live in poverty, and housing remains out of reach for many.

“The tiny home villages could address homeless needs, but they could also address people who are just looking for a more affordable kind of housing, to live in, being a tiny home. And the unique thing about tiny homes is they could be rentals, but you could also subdivide a piece of property and have small little lots with a tiny home on it that would allow people to buy those and start to accrue equity”, said Ford.  

Monday’s workshop will allow you to have a say in the new plan, and learn more about the ordinance. 

“Well, I think one of the things that’s confusing people right now is that there are a configuration of issues and between homelessness and housing types. And so part of these could be permanent housing, that could be long term housing or transitional and supportive housing. But some of that could be done under the emergency declaration relative to homelessness, which would not, which would have different building code implications. So we need to separate those apart. And what we really want to do is create an ordinance that allows flexibility”, he said. 

Story by Tucker Caraway