Home Sweet Home

  During this time of high mortgage payments, dwindling property values, and rising heating and energy costs some people are beginning to think seriously about tailoring their housing needs.  Some downsizing alternatives have been with us for years, motorhomes, mobile homes, houseboats and camper vans; but, these are neither staionary nor controversial.  There is another option being explored today that both delights some and infuriates others. 

   Jay Shafer is a former art teacher who has been invited to speaking engagements in the United States and Canada to promote his ideas on "tiny houses".  For ten years he has been residing comfortably in a succession of homes that were all less than 100 square feet in size.  This man is not "living large" though he is getting large receptions wherever he speaks to enthusiastic audiences who are concerned with the environment, reducing overhead expenses, and looking for something suitable to their changing needs.

   Not all is rosy however in this Lilliputian land of little houses.  Many residents are outspoken and concerned that these miniatures will result in neighbourhood housing prices dropping even further.