The first nail in Lincoln's version of a small house -- more modest than most, but far from tiny -- was hammered home a couple of years ago, in a conversation at City Hall.
Dave Landis was visiting with City Councilman Roy Christensen after a council meeting. “I’m not sure which of us spoke about the phenomenon first,†Landis said, “but both of us found ourselves intrigued by that phenomenon.â€
They were talking about tiny homes -- often no more than 200 square feet, sometimes built with wheels, the subject of a half-dozen cable TV series. They've housed homeless and hippies and hipsters, and those who refuse to be burdened by the size of their space.
In short, tiny homes were in, but Lincoln was out. They didn't exist here. As director of the city's Urban Development Department, Landis knew he could try to change that.
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“Mini-houses are part of the fabric of housing in other areas,†he said. “And we thought it would be great to have an experiment here.â€
The result on North 28th Street wouldn't make it on “Tiny Homes, Big Living†or “Tiny Homes Hunting†or “Tiny Homes World,†but it is a departure from traditional home construction in Lincoln: 540 square feet of kitchen, living area, bedroom and bathroom on the main floor.
When it hits the market next month, though, it will also have 250 square feet of its basement finished, with a full bathroom and bedroom, for a total of nearly 800 square feet of living space.
Huge, by tiny house standards.
“It kind of turned into a not-so-tiny house,†said Vicki Langdon, volunteer executive director of the nonprofit Affordable Housing Initiatives.
But it could still fill a need in Lincoln, Christensen said. The councilman has been interested in small homes since before he was elected, when he was talking to a voter in the Malone Neighborhood about more-traditional housing improvement projects.
They can be good for a neighborhood, he was told, but hard on poor people.
“You improve homes in the area and that raises the property values, and that makes it difficult for lower-income people. I started thinking about what options do low-income people have, and I started looking around, and I found tiny homes.â€
They’re affordable, he said. Low-income buyers can own a small house for what they pay in rent. They also appeal to a broad cross-section: Young buyers who don’t want to be house-poor; homeowners trying to shrink their carbon footprints; retirees and empty-nesters who don’t need as much space.
Plus, the structures could help fill Lincoln’s nonstandard lots -- smaller parcels of property that, because of setback restrictions and other zoning rules, are impractical to builders.
The city owns a number of nonstandard lots it can’t sell, Christensen said.
And if they don’t sell, they don’t generate property tax.
“We know there are lots that people call unbuildable but they aren’t unbuildable,†Landis said. “They’re just unbuildable if you build a regular-size house.â€
After Landis and Christensen spoke, Urban Development partnered with Affordable Housing Initiatives, which renovates neglected houses and occasionally builds new homes. The nonprofit would build and sell the home, the city would provide the federal funding.
They identified a problem property on a small lot at 224 N. 28th St., a stripped-out, two-story older home with a footprint that would not be approved by city planners today, in part because it went up to the edge of the alley.
Affordable Housing Initiatives first produced a plan for a small house that was ultimately too expensive, Langdon said.
Next, Urban Development pitched a modern design with an attached garage, deep vertical windows and a 12-foot ceiling. But it was too modern. The city’s Urban Design Committee rejected the plan, saying it was architecturally out of tune in an older neighborhood dominated by gables and porches, Landis said.
The bungalow now close to completion is smaller than its neighbors, but not out of character. It has a front porch and detached garage.
Langdon said they considered building it on a slab, to save money.
“But we live in Nebraska. Tornadoes. It’s nice to have a basement,†she said.
Then they decided to finish the basement -- with an egress window and bathroom -- to make the smaller home bigger and more marketable. So now it’s more of a modest home, on par with starter houses in older parts of the city.
It should be finished next month. They haven’t set a listing price, though it must be sold to a low- or moderate-income buyer.
And then Affordable Housing Initiatives will look for another project. Langdon would be interested in building a true tiny house, even exploring the idea of a community of tiny houses that could share storage space and a storm shelter.
She’s not sure how that would be embraced.
“I don’t know if this community is ready for tiny houses,†she said. “We’re in Nebraska. We have a lot of room.â€