'Captivating and Incredibly Functional'
Housing Commission Small-Footprint Homes
Project Update: High-Quality Interior, Exterior Renderings Released
While housing challenges and scarcity continue to make headlines locally and nationally, the Ottawa County Housing Commission and project partners are pursuing solutions with the Small-Footprint Home Development Concept.
Ideally under 1,000 square feet and situated on appropriately sized lots, these traditionally sized homes would sell for less than half of the median price for an Ottawa County abode, which is well above $400,000. These attainable dwellings could realistically increase housing stock.
"Smaller homes were common a century ago," said Department of Strategic Impact (DSI) Director Paul Sachs. "Although these well-loved residences define the historic sections of communities, they couldn't be built in most local jurisdictions today. If we want to effectively address housing availability, we have to reconsider ordinances, zoning, and the size of the homes we as a community are building. With this project, we're addressing all of these issues."
New rendering imagines the small-home concepts in a wooded, communal design setting. Rendering courtesy Nick Rolinski
"The fronts of the houses all face in on this public space. This community has a big outdoor living room that's shared with everyone."
Nick Rolinski, Holland-based design consultant
The goals of this pilot are three-fold:
1) Develop a series of open-source architectural plans and material lists that home builders, developers and citizens can utilize
2) Analyze zoning and policy barriers and work with municipalities to allow for smaller-footprint homes
3) Recruit builders and nonprofits to invest in this type of housing, demonstrating the quality and creating momentum
To be clear, Ottawa County is not funding actual home construction.
"We're not as a County in the business of building homes," said Housing Commission Chair and Local Realtor Jared Schuitema. "With this pilot project, we're looking to work with community partners to demonstrate from start to finish how and why small-footprint homes can and should be built."
Since first launching this project last summer, significant progress has been made:
Home Designs Nearly Complete
Recruited by DSI, Holland-based design consultant Nick Rolinski and staff intern Matt Daub (Hope College undergrad studying civil engineering) have worked with the Housing Commission and partners to develop a series of four unique concepts: In-Town, Lake/Dune, Rural/Farm and Rural/Forest.
In January, Rolinski and Daub unveiled a new, high-quality rendering of the small-home concepts in a communal design setting.
"The fronts of the houses all face in on this public space. This community has a big outdoor living room that's shared with everyone," said Rolinski. He emphasized this is just one configuration. "There's no reason these homes couldn’t be built individually."
To help the public better visualize the home interiors, the group is collaborating with a local interior designer, Katie Crothers, to develop a series of renderings.
"Interiors have the power to be both captivating and incredibly functional, no matter the scale," said Crothers. "I'm excited to share my skill to bring this important project to life."
First drafts illustrating the interior of the smallest concept - the 400 square-foot home - were presented at the Feb. 13 Commission meeting. "These initial visualizations ... take this project to the next level," said Rolinski. He went on to say these preliminary interior renderings will help the team further refine their home concepts. Next on Katie Crother's rendering to-do list is the largest design - the 1,000 square-foot home. With renderings representing both sizes paired together, Rolinski believes the public will better see the versatility.
An overhead "dollhouse" view of the 400 square-foot, 'In Town' interior rendering. Image courtesy Katie Crothers
Fighting Small-Footprint Home Misconceptions
Providing renderings and finding suitable sites will not only show a proof-of concept but fight persistent stigmas and misconceptions about smaller homes.
"Small-footprint homes are often misunderstood by the general public in multiple ways," said Sachs. "They can be erroneously associated with very low-income, generating higher crime, or lowering property values for neighboring areas. Those perceptions are misguided."
Another misconception is equating small-footprint homes with the tiny mobile house trend of the past decade. A tiny home - as defined by International Residential Code - is a dwelling under 400 square feet. "People think of the tiny house shows on HGTV, where you have movable boxes that are on wheels. That's not our project," said Matt Daub during the Feb. 13 meeting. "Really only one of our concepts applies to the building code definition of a tiny home."
Additionally, unlike the stereotypical tiny home, the dwellings for this pilot project will be on permanent slab foundations and are being designed to visually fit within the existing fabric of the surrounding neighborhoods in which similar size homes have existed for decades.
"Proving the concept and benefits of smaller footprint homes will help change attitudes and ultimately help gain momentum in achieving the for-sale housing stock we need, without the use of tax subsidies," said Sachs.
The work group is actively seeking out partners to get shovels in the ground this year. "Our goal for 2025 is to actually collaborate with local builders to see this product type constructed in a partnering community," said Sachs. "We need to showcase the beauty, sophistication and promise of these concepts."
The Housing Commission meets the first Thursday of every month at the County Administrative Building in West Olive. For more information on the County’s Small Footprint Homes Development Concept, visit miottawa.org/DSI.
For high-quality versions of the images in this release, please email plan@miottawa.org.
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