Whereas the use of Recreational Vehicles RVs and Tiny homes as an alternative form of affordable housing has become a matter of national importance in the midst of a housing affordability crisis; and despite previously submitted UBCM resolutions addressing tiny homes a satisfactory outcome with respect to this issue has not been achieved; And whereas in March 2017, members from the modular construction council of the Canadian Home Builders Association CHBA drafted and submitted fourteen code change requests CCRs to the National Building Code to address the reality that some components and design features within tiny homes do not comply with all municipal, provincial, and federal codes or industry standards; And whereas the BC Housing Research Centre prepared a research paper titled Tiny Homes An Alternative to Conventional Housing that offers solutions for construction standards specific to tiny homes on wheels so they may be used as permitted dwelling units for full-time living: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM encourage the Province to advocate for and provide incentives to industry groups to revisit industry standards such as CSA Canadian Standards Association, and create a new category specific to moveable tiny homes certified for permanent occupancy that separates tiny homes from motorized vehicles, towable RVs and temporary small trailers; and to create a new category specific to RVs certified for permanent occupancy; And be it further resolved that UBCM encourage the Province that as a matter of national importance to advocate for changes to the National Building Code to recognize and define tiny homes as an allowable dwelling unit and provide specific building requirements; and to follow up any such changes with updates to Part 9 of the BC Building Code.
Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs The Province successfully advocated for the formation of a National Model Code Committee NMCC on housing and work related to tiny homes, through its positions on the Canadian Table for Harmonized Construction Codes Policy and the Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes. The NMCCs terms of reference for Housing include a task to Identify construction components in tiny houses that may be subject to existing requirements in Part 9 of the National Building Code and develop proposed code changes for relaxations of provisions where appropriate. The Province has also advocated for this work to include analysis of moveable tiny homes. The need for a specific industry standard, such as those created by the Canadian Standards Association, will be informed by the recommendations of the NMCC for Housing. It has not yet been determined if requirements for tiny homes, or moveable tiny homes, will need to be addressed in a standard outside of the model National Building Code or BC Building Code.