Tiny homes: A big solution for disaster recovery

Small dwelling units are booming as solutions for affordable housing, camping, and glamping. But of most interest, at present, is the opportunity this category provides as a source of transitional housing during times of climate crisis and regional disasters such as the L.A. fires.

California already had increasingly positive regulation toward accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and tiny homes prior to the January 2025 Los Angeles fires. In the wake of the current disaster, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued an emergency executive order: Return and Rebuild. This new mandate eliminates the significant regulatory hurdles of rebuilding to organize efforts with a theme of “urgency, common sense, and compassion.”

We applaud this effort, which includes allowing the use of park models, RVs, and other structures as needed to allow owners of the 12,000-plus homes affected to recover and rebuild as quickly as possible. This is an area where the industry for sustainable and high-quality park models will shine.

Beyond California, recovery efforts from other disasters are shining a floodlight on the need and benefit of affordable and weather-resistant small homes for many thousands of additional people throughout the U.S. and beyond.

I recently interviewed Dan Fitzpatrick, the president of the Tiny Home Industry Association about these needs. Dan has 49 years’ experience in both public and private roles. He’s had a front-row view of the need and the power of public/private partnerships to accomplish projects such as the Rio Mesa master-planned community of 15,000 on the north side of Fresno, California, as well as Tesoro Vieja, a 400-acre planned lake community in the state’s Central Valley.

What L.A. can learn from recent hurricane disasters in the southeast

Dan and I have observed the damage across Florida and North Carolina from three catastrophic hurricanes in 2024: Debby, Helene, and Milton. FEMA responded to those disasters with approval for more than $2.1 billion in aid, including $931.7 million for housing repairs and personal property replacement, along with more than $1.18 billion to support local and state governments in recovery efforts including debris removal and emergency protective measures. 

These situations caused the demand for tiny homes as transitional housing to skyrocket. The units are proving to be especially beneficial in allowing homeowners continual proximity to manage and monitor the rebuilds and can serve as permanent and property-enhancing studios and accessory dwellings after the rebuilds are complete.

California is following suit

In addition to the emergency order by Mayor Bass, the January 2025 executive order by California Governor Gavin Newsom is expediting the rapid rebuilding efforts now required in L.A. This new order suspends key permitting and review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act, to facilitate faster property restoration. 

As a response to natural disasters, we can anticipate the demand for tiny homes to surge well beyond the already aggressive predictions for growth. “The prefabricated home sector is on track to grow by more than $30 billion over the coming few years,” Dan told me. “Tiny homes hold the potential to be the ideal answer to increase our country’s resilience to natural disasters.” However, he also notes that while the importance of this category is increasingly obvious, there are critical nuances involved.

Speed is our friend– but also our enemy.

While Mayor Bass’s and Governor Newsom’s order are vital steps toward removing the bureaucratic hurdles to expedite rebuilding, we must strike the right balance between rapid reconstruction and adherence to environmental safeguards. 

The quality and nature of tiny homes is critical to avoid the prospect of having quickly erected small home communities turn into poorly constructed and badly located “shanty towns”—a worry large enough to lead some regions to enact regulation against them.

NPR has also noted vast ranges in quality among tiny home shelters, ranging from “cabins with a cot to miniature houses with kitchens and bathrooms.”

In my own company’s case, our Los Angeles, California facility, in operation since 2022, has more than tripled its capacity in 2024 to 24/7 operation to meet the rising demand. We are 3D printing homes from recycled polymers and fiberglass to create units that are energy efficient and sustainable as well weather resilient.

Clearly the need and the demand for high quality, sustainable and weather resistant tiny homes has never been higher. It is an industry that will impact all areas of the U.S. and the regions beyond in 2025 and in the years and seasons to come.

Gene Eidelman is the cofounder of Azure Printed Homes.

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