Voices: Bigger not always better in Texas, as tiny trend takes off

AUSTIN — For a state that prides itself on its bigness, Texas is in the midst of a tiny trend.

Tiny homes are being built in lieu of sprawling houses. A project to house the homeless in small, one-bedroom homes has taken root in Austin. Retirees are opting for tiny bungalows rather than oversize homes.

The shift toward smaller living has been percolating for years across the USA, even spawning its own reality TV show (FYI’s Tiny House Nation), as more Americans trade in square footage for simpler living. In Texas, where things are often and proudly pronounced to be bigger, it’s been particularly interesting to witness.

In the Hill Country outside of Austin, a group of semi-retired couples recently contracted a local architect to design and build four 350-square-foot homes next to one another overlooking the Llano River. The community — donned “Llano Exit Strategy” by its owners — boasts four small cabins, a communal eating area, rain-gathering cisterns, large scenic windows and enough hare, bobcats and deer to goggle at for a lifetime.

When my wife and I moved to Austin two years ago, we considered upgrading to a larger home, somewhere in the affordable outskirts of the city. Instead, we agreed to embrace the downsizing trend – to a degree. We moved into a new, 1,567-square-foot home with our two daughters and dog three miles from downtown. In Manhattan, that may seem like a lot of real estate. But in most parts of Texas, that’s considered a slightly roomy tool shed.

We have a shared driveway with a neighbor and small carport for storage. One unexpected plus to the new house: Less home meant less stuff and our purging of dozens of boxes of unnecessary things (Who knew I still had that beer sign from college?) was one of the more liberating moments of our move.

We’re not alone. Across the USA, families are moving into smaller homes and non-profit groups are latching on to the trend to try to solve affordable housing crises. In New Orleans, actor Brad Pitt and his Make It Right Foundation announced in August they’re teaming up with Tiny House Nation to bring smaller, affordable homes to the Hurricane Katrina-scarred Lower Ninth Ward.

Students at Texas A&M University are designing and building tiny homes to house chronically homeless people in the Austin area. The professor leading that effort, Ben Bigelow, worked as a remodeling contractor in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and became dismayed at the sprawl of communities he was helping to build.

“It didn’t make any sense to me,” Bigelow, an assistant professor of construction science, told me. “People can certainly live in less than we do and for less money and not contribute to urban sprawl. But we feel this continuing need to grow out and build more.”

Bigelow left private construction, joined academia and got his students involved in the tiny house movement. His first class this year designed and built two homes for the Austin homeless community. He’s currently looking for funding to build more.

The go-small movement is trying to reverse a trend in home sizes that has swelled the past six decades. The average size of a new American home in 1950 was 983 square feet. Last year, the average new home was more than 2,600 square feet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Reasons for the ever-growing home sizes vary: Families have more income, homes are relatively more affordable. But my hunch is that homes have also grown in concert with U.S. consumer appetites — a relentless quest for “bigger and more” fueled by sophisticated marketing campaigns and corporate strategies.

Maybe one day the tiny trend will really take root and reverse that quest for more. And maybe Texas will be at the center of it.

I can picture the bumper stickers: “Everything’s tinier in Texas.”

Jervis is an Austin-based correspondent for Paste BN.