Tiny houses have swept the nation and created a movement based on minimalism and contentment. The concept of limiting your home to minimal square feet allows you to rid yourself of unnecessary possessions and only live with what you need. But one problem always seems to pop up for the tiny house movement: zoning. Because most cities have strict zoning codes, it makes building and maintaining a tiny home nearly impossible.
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A tiny house friendly town in West Texas, called Spur, has solved that problem.
This small town sits just east of Lubbock and boasts a population of just over 1200. It has a classic West Texas high street with a couple of stop lights, a theater, and a few local businesses. It's also the first city in the United States that has local zoning ordinances that are tiny house friendly.
The lenient zoning laws have welcomed a new population of people moving from places like Silicon Valley and New York. These minimalist dreamers wanted peace, simplicity, and community. Spur offers all of these things, and the growth looks to continue into the coming years.
The Texas Country Reporter went on site to tour the town:
The resolution for more friendly zoning passed back in 2014 and has invited in an entirely new form of development into the city. People are planning entire tiny house neighborhoods with a rich sense of community.
Most tiny home builders have to buy land in rural areas where zoning is lenient. But these areas tend to mean neighbors and communities are few and far between, making life a lonelier venture. Spur turns that problem on its head.
As Denise Rosner describes the tiny house community in Spur, "We found peace. We found our dreams coming true. And we have each other. We have the tiny house community. It's just heaven."
This post was originally published in 2016.
