Tiny Houses

Willl the Mainland trend come to Maui?

“Tiny homes” are becoming a popular trend in lots of major cities across the U.S, but will they be a fit for Maui? The advantage of these trendy tiny homes is that they create affordable housing in desirable areas where housing would otherwise be unaffordable.

A temporary investigative group on Maui filed a report with the planning committee which included “tiny home” options as a potential solution to improve housing inventory here. The report suggests establishing “tiny home” communities clustered on existing lots. The county would need to define the term “tiny home” and decide where these communities could be established and in what zoning district.

Other options to improve Maui’s housing inventory discussed in the report were amending zoning ordinances to allow cottages to be built on smaller lots, re-zoning certain areas and providing pre-approved plans to expedite the building plan review process.