TINY HOME COMMUNITIES

Tiny Homes Come to La Grande

Affordable quality, housing is one of the most critical aspects of an individual’s wellbeing. In today’s economic climate with rising construction costs, new ways of providing affordable housing are essential. When GOBHI (Greater Oregon Behavioral Health, Inc.) mentioned the idea of tiny homes in rural communities specifically La Grande, Pinnacle jumped at the opportunity to help them shape the zoning codes to allow for it. Our firm doesn’t specialize in single-family housing or tiny homes, but we are passionate about enhancing lives and communities.

We began by helping GOBHI secure a Meyer Memorial Trust Technical Assistance grant that would fund the research and code development. Our staff collected examples from around the country and mocked up what it would look like to integrate a tiny home community within La Grande. Two cases were provided to show the small homes integrated within detached single-family developments (Frontier Street Infill Example: two houses, one under 500 SF and one under 1,000 SF) and a small cluster (3rd Street Example: six homes under 500 SF each) situated adjacent to other developments. Armed with a draft zoning code and graphic examples, GOBHI and Pinnacle worked with La Grande’s city planner and the Planning Commission to finalize Article 3.22 – Cottage Home Development. A few months after the code went into effect, a local developer announced their intentions of creating a 10-building tiny home community for veterans. Read more here about future plans. This is just the start of helping rural Oregon’s vulnerable population.