A look at life in Northern California's first and only (legal) tiny house community

ByABC7 & Medium's "The Bold Italic"
Thursday, August 8, 2019
A look at NorCal's first (legal) tiny house community
ABC7 and The Bold Italic, a Medium-owned publication that covers life in the Bay Area, partnered up to get a glimpse at what life is really like in Northern California's only (legal) tiny house community -- and explore the potential for more of these homes popping up in the future.

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a world ruled by Marie Kondo and ripe with ever-inflating housing prices, minimalism and "tiny living" have never been more intriguing, especially here in the Bay Area.

ABC7 partnered with The Bold Italic, a Medium-owned publication that covers life in the Bay Area, to get a glimpse of life inside Northern California's only (legal) tiny house community and explore the potential for more of these homes popping up in the future.

Park Delta Bay in Isleton, CA, is an RV park that houses more than a dozen tiny houses, and more are slated to move in as space becomes available. The tiny houses aren't co-mingled with the RV's. Instead the cute, HGTV-style homes on wheels are lined up in a row, G Row, with outside patio sets filling the gaps in between.

THE BOLD ITALIC: What It's Like to Live in Northern California's First Tiny-Home Community

The tiny house owners range from a retired lawyer to a contractor who built his own home to a single dad who commutes to San Francisco for work. Each of their homes reflects their personality. One is cozy and homey with a lot of knick knacks, while another is more modern and sleek with a Ring doorbell outside.

While it's definitely a cheaper lifestyle, with rent and utilities averaging about $750 a month, there is an initial investment of tens of thousands of dollars to buy a tiny home. Living in a space that is less than 350 square feet may seem confining but the homeowners say they enjoy the financial freedom to do other things. Though one homeowner warned, you need to be very self-aware because if you're having a bad day, there's nowhere to escape.

Watch the video for a look inside several tiny houses.

Take a look at ABC7's latest stories and videos about efforts to Build a Better Bay Area.

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