Advocates increasingly point to new strategies to expand the state’s affordable housing supply as housing costs spiral out of reach for many low- and middle-income Delawareans.
Talk of densification and zoning reforms are rising in Delaware, with tiny homes – a category covering a range of buildings spanning accessory dwellings to small detached homes on wheels – often at the center.
But Krista Evans, director of planning and geography at Missouri State University, says similar projects tend to stall because neighbors worry about their property values or neighborhood character.
“Sometimes you have people who really want to do this; they have money behind it, but they can’t find a place to put it," she said. "They try to change the zoning, and all the neighbors show up and say, ‘we don’t want this here,’ so it gets shut down.”
A tiny house village intended to serve as temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness is in the works in Georgetown; Harrington amended its code to set guidelines for tiny home construction, and Sussex County’s Planning and Zoning Commission rejected a permit application for a tiny home in the Milton area earlier this year.
Sussex County Habitat for Humanity’s Katie Millard says houses with smaller footprints are more affordable, but given current land costs, building codes and loan conditions, developers have few options or incentives to build anything smaller or denser than the sprawling single-family home neighborhoods.
“It’s a better deal for developers to build what they’re currently building," she said, "so a lot of times when you’re building affordable, you need a subsidy.”
Far from offering subsidies, most Delaware municipalities haven’t begun revisiting zoning and building code regulations to make smaller or denser units legal to build.
This story comes from Delaware independent – an email newsletter for southern Delaware. More reporting on it can be found at the Delaware Independent website.
