Is tiny home living POVERTY APPROPRIATION?

[@jennief7114]

I busted out laughing when you mentioned people living in trailers vs "tiny homes". You are so right! One is cool and one is not, but look at the cost difference! I am in the process of selling my home, downsizing now the kids are on their own. I showed them this cute trailer on a beautiful piece of property in the mountains and they said but mom it's a trailer! I am now going to show them your video! LOL! TY!

[@MonkeyJedi99]

In my opinion, the requirements for a home are a combination of structural and personal. Structural: Is it weathertight? Is it properly insulated? Are the utilities enough for your needs? Is it structurally sound for potential hazards of the region? Is it in a place where flood and fire risk are low? Personal: Is it close enough to places you need and want to go? Is the neighborhood the density you like? Is there enough room for the things and space you need?

[@deepanshu564]

Just tell them "it's a tiny house" then see their reaction 😂

[@priestesslucy]

Tbf, the engineering and floor planning of most trailers are trash compared to an actual Tiny Home. Self Builds can have similar costs to a trailer of similar size

[@backwardsbandit8094]

@@MonkeyJedi99 for people who cant afford to take those things into consideration, especially with the global housing market perpetually on the rise, I'd take a trailer over nothing at all. Personally I dont see "tiny homes" any differently to motorhomes. Most of them are quite literally just modified motorhomes anyway.

[@JohnGalt916]

Shoooot I live in California. The state where homeless is an option. I'd kill to own a trailer.

[@milesthered]

As an unemployed person who has lived in a tiny house I can speak from personal experience that it's not glamorous. Things wear out faster, you have very little room to store stuff and their value declines over time but at least they have indoor plumbing! I now live in a caravan (not by choice) and it really does suck. Filling up water tanks every few days, emptying out the (chemical) toilet and disposing of its contents, nowhere to store stuff, the hassles of using a vacuum cleaner in sucha confined space, the need to use gas to cook and the blowing of fuses whenever you operate more than one high voltage appliance... the novelty wears off very quickly. Some people think it's trendy, cool or environmentally friendly to live this way. It's not: there's nothing environmentally friendly about the chemicals in a chemical toilet or LPG. Others think it's a solution to the homeless problem. If you're single and childless (like me) it might be but for most people (especially those with children) it's not only impractical but a potential breeding ground for disease and illness because of overcrowding. Belinda Carr is right: taking something that people are forced to put up with due to poverty and turning it into something cool and trendy isn't appropriate.

[@JRP3]

Promoting downsizing homes and less materialistic living is absolutely appropriate. It's a response to the bloated McMansions that were all the rage not too long ago. Just because your personal experience is negative doesn't mean the general concept and trend are wrong.

[@lovfro]

@@JRP3 Spoken like a true champagne socialist. How about you engage with the valid criticism offered up by Miles, instead of cherry picking an ambiguous term like "appropriate" to attack. In my opinion Miles is correct and unfortunately there is an army of useful idiots running the errands of Capital in this regard. It is in fact not a response to the bloated McMansions, but a response to the fact that wealth inequality is growing and there is no longer a market for these McMansions. A new market needs to be created and thus we find ourselves in the situation in which we are today. Where the environmentalist movement has been hitched in front of capitals wagon.

[@JRP3]

@@lovfro I have no idea what the point of that incoherent rant was supposed to be. Smaller homes are an obvious way to lower costs of living as well as one's environmental impact. As with anything there are good and bad implementations. It's the same as saying "because my house is a piece of crap that means all houses are the same". His claims are simply not rational, why would anything wear out faster in a smaller house? Are the faucets used more, the toilet, the oven, stove, doors, etc.? No. The issue with Miles' situation is more about the quality of the unit than it's size, hence his blanket dismissal of downsized living is completely invalid. He's also living in a van, not a tiny house on it's own lot with water and septic.

[@caranich23]

@@lovfro So unless I am abjectly miserable living in a small space, I am a terrible person!? I LOVE small spaces and wish there were more of them available for me to CHOOSE to live in.

[@JRP3]

@Alexander Di Cintio Why the fuck would you care how someone else makes money if it doesn't actually affect you at all? And why would it bother you enough to possibly shoot them with arrows? Your post was reasonable until the end where you went off the rails and sounded like a lunatic.

[@drewe51]

I really appreciated the tiny home v. Trailer park comparison. The way people react to them so differently is wild.

[@oliviastratton2169]

Well, with tiny homes, you generally own the land. With trailer parks you don't. So, there's an obvious difference. The day-to-day experience may not seem too different, but the security of knowing you have an appreciating asset vs the content fear that your park might raise it's rates can't be overstated. It's like condos vs apartments. One is more associated with wealth because there's an ownership aspect the other lacks.

[@eleanorbrasfield]

Mobile homes are still so expensive, too! I've been comparison shopping, thinking of building a tiny home or buying a mobile home. Nothing feels super accessible, at least in the near future.

[@elainelouve]

True!

[@lapx1]

She's so aware! Spot on with her analysis.

[@rebeccaburrow7199]

@@eleanorbrasfield mobile home prices have tripled in the past ten years. My $45k singlewide in 2012 would go for $115k in 2022. It is tragic.

[@Akiss]

“Tiny homes” are the most nauseating when it’s some self-important rich family who buy a 50 sq meter summer home in Helsinki, spend $300k renovating it, then talk about how they care about a small footprint and sustainability.

[@NHGJLK]

Viiskyt neliöö on paljon

[@limitlesssky3050]

Tiny homes are only fun because their decoration are super innovative and very space efficient. But after living in one of them for 2 years (it's 4meter by 4 meter) and moving out, I am not missing out on any of its inconveniences.

[@Akiss]

Shib on the Moon think you missed the point. I don’t expect people to care about others. If someone wants to be selfish, that’s their choice and their money. Just don’t do it with the false pretense of some altruistic goal.

[@tthomas184]

@SHIBASAURUS REX speaking of petty hater...project much?

[@tthomas184]

@SHIBASAURUS REX he complained its hatred, you complain its not. Thats some nice logic you got there. 🙃

[@betruetoyourself7162]

This channel is so underrated. Thank you

[@BelindaCarr]

Thank you!!

[@nixic_]

Couldnt agree more

[@akeidabarrow965]

Fr

[@savagepatty]

I know right. I only recently found it but I love the fact bombs

[@mintymus]

@@savagepatty Love this channel.

[@barneystinson2781]

This reminds me of an old reddit thread that was asking what are some things that are trashy when you are poor but normal when you are rich. I guess we can add living in a small home to that

[@agnetafelicia5961]

yup! absolutely. can't win with no daddy's money!

[@vaschnisavain9983]

The grass is always greener on the other side... mankind always desires what it doesn’t have at that moment.

[@diviningrod2671]

Only because you're viewing it diagonally position, Point of view and perspective are everything

[@bobleponge1853]

The grass is always greener because it is fake.

[@undertaken5200]

You’re frustrating to write comments for, because you address everything in your videos. Well researched, and properly informed.

[@siddharthk9487]

Lol

[@katherinefilardo1287]

My exact thoughts. Bravo Belinda!

[@sloth6480]

Lol that's legit. I opened the video and hovered over the dislike thinking "this is just another wokedom" video and before I could smash that dislike she was like (paraphrase) "at first I thought this was just another wokedom term..." and then I was like.... God damn it. Isn't even the first time that happened lol I should have learned my lesson.

[@autodidacticartisan]

As someone trapped in the ironic position of building homes for a living while simultaneously not being able to afford my own, I find that tiny homes are my only real possibility to acquire home ownership at all. Especially here in California

[@JeffReeves]

It's really strange how the world works. Rich people making money off the backs of people actually putting in the work... We don't even question how companies are still turning record profits during a major pandemic yet they can't increase pay to compete with even inflation.

[@morganhazel2373]

Find a local union

[@clayed]

Move

[@esosaimasuen8122]

@@clayed why, Roy? Weren't you listening? He's getting a tiny house.

[@clayed]

@@esosaimasuen8122 move, out of California. Perhaps then he could afford to live in a house.

[@JTM1809]

Personally I think, that the main reason behind the tiny home movement is to escape the rat race and obtain a home without having to slave for a bank for 15/20/25 years.

[@jennief7114]

If on average tiny homes costs $400 per sq ft, most people would still have to have a mortgage!

[@esasaarinen2423]

@@jennief7114 In the best neighborhoods in Helsinki the cost per square foot is well over $1,000

[@SeanBurke007]

Yup. In the US the average mortgage (aka death note) is 30 years, though some are 40. Many of us don’t have that long left to live. My house that’s under construction now, which is built with Passive House principles is budgeted for the same price as one year of rent for a London one bedroom flat.

[@hurricane5125]

@@jennief7114 think they where way cheaper in early 2000s. The demand for them must be driving the price up

[@townsendliving9750]

My 5k sqft house cost less then your average high end tiny home

[@backwardsbandit8094]

While it may seem like "poverty appropriation" some of us look at these options knowing that we will not exactly be wealthy and we use it as a way to comfort ourselves knowing that at least we may not be outright homeless. Perhaps that's just my experience but I believe that many young people are attracted to the idea of tiny homes because they feel that they will never have enough to afford a normal home. I personally dont look down on people in trailer parks because it's entirely possible that I will be living right next to them. Of course there is a million other reasons why you should not look down on people who live in trailer parks. The irritating part about suggesting affordable housing options on social media, is that they become trendy and then they no longer become affordable. People who may face poverty in the future now cant use tiny homes as an alternative option because its become a marketable trend and due to popularity, the prices rise.

[@suadela87]

When I first heard of the tiny house movement and everyone going minimalist, I was excited. I finally found a cute aesthetic I could afford! And it would be easy to clean! But trying to get my own tiny house showed me very quickly that it was far too expensive for me. The poor neighborhood I live in is quickly gentrifying and I’m getting nervous about rising rent.

[@jennprescott2757]

I’ve always thought that these “van life” people are so goofy spending so much money converting these vans when RVs exist.

[@zripster]

RVs are expensive and a van can be customized to meet an individual's specific needs

[@tammyteej861]

RVs…such as Winnebago…are incredibly poorly built….and so pricey for that junk. Building out your own van gives you the chance to make it how you want and put whatever quality you want in it. There are very expensive RVs that are cool and very spacious, but you’re still overpaying for the quality in it. Building out a van an alcove expensive, but again you get to decide on how much goes into it. Check out van life builds…..some are so incredible and creative! But even here, those with money can really go overboard.

[@michaelbrownlee9497]

Rv guzzle the gas. There kinda nice though they have a shower and a pooper.

[@Redrally]

Some people just really need a hobby and found their best one 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@creaturecore13]

RVs are some of the worst built junk with virtually no warranty. A lemon law lawyer on KZbin Steve lehto has a ton on them.

[@lukeyznaga7627]

the tiny home moveement, I think in part, is a response to the ridicoulously expensive real estate market where people don't want to be in debt the rest of their lives, just to have a home. The cost of a tiny home or Trailer home is so more inexpensive than owning a regular Rancher style single story home.

[@berserkasaurusrex4233]

Except... a tiny home costs more than a ranch style home. Half of these "tiny homes" costs like $300+ per square foot, with some hitting $400 and more; a 300 sqft tiny home is like $90K-$120K. You can buy an existing ranch for less than that, and get a much better house at the same time. Hell, you can build a brand new 1,200 sqft ranch house for less than $120K in some areas of the US. And a mobile/trailer home costs way, way less than a "tiny home", is larger, and again, tends to be built better. The tiny home movement fad is not being driven by a desire to save money; if it was, they'd just buy a prefab shed for $4 grand instead.

[@lukeyznaga7627]

@@berserkasaurusrex4233 truth!

[@lukeyznaga7627]

@@berserkasaurusrex4233 you can also invest in an old home that needs minor repair that is a ranch home, and repair it and FLIP IT.

[@caranich23]

@@berserkasaurusrex4233 Is it possible to get a loan (with a decent interest rate!) to build new construction? What about the costs of buying land, and connecting it to utilities? These things add up, and not everyone wants to live off-grid in a log cabin in the woods with no plumbing or electricity!

[@caranich23]

@@lukeyznaga7627 What if you don't have the time or energy to devote to learning how to renovate a house and you just want a decent place to live? Flipping is great for those who want to make a business out of it and earn money. I already have a full time job, I just want a place to sleep and shower that I don't have to share with five roommates...

[@boshenaw.929]

Great video. I am European and we lived in a tiny apartment, which, looking back, was great. We had to learn great communication, working together and sharing. I have also lived in big houses, which was nice, but in the end, we migrated towards two rooms and the rest of the house stayed locked up and unloved. I think that it all depends on the situation and we should not allow ourselves to be brainwashed into believing in trends or what we perceive to be ''luxury.. What suiits me, does not have to suit anybody else and that is totally fine. To me, poverty, or luxury is a state of mind, not society standards.

[@Ocyla]

I love tiny homes but yeah it's just a fancy trailer home. I love them at a distance but would never use live in one (tiny homes, nothing wrong with trailers)

[@CriticalTechReviews]

Oh my god, the Zoolander opening. You're even more on point than I already thought from the container home debunking videos.

[@smsimonson]

I lived in a tinyhome for almost a year, and I was happy to have this option as it was a perfect fit for what I needed at the time. The most (the only?) luxurious thing about it was the location. Maybe that's the critical difference between a tinyhome and a trailerpark: real estate is all about location, location, location. I would also argue that the tinyhome fad is driving much-needed innovation in the pre-fab housing industry, and that innovation will benefit the low end of the market too.

[@2bczar4u]

One thing I noticed about these people that have built the tiny homes to be debt free or save money is that they are doing the tiny home version of living in your parent's basement. They live on beautiful land 'rented' to them by 'someone they know'. As for RVing. After much thought, I decided probably not a great thing to be packing up every 14 days to go somewhere else.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

An RV is an expensive way to live house-free.

[@samuel2291]

This is precisely the issue I have with not just tiny homes but densification, like in Australia where people advocate for building more apartments to solve housing affordability but then sell them for the same price as a house with a yard in the same suburb because of their "luxury finishes" and incorporating the latest "architectural" fads for the sake of being "designer". How is this making housing more affordable?

[@pacolibbrecht4933]

First of all, thank you so much for your videos, I just found out about your channel and I find your insights fantastic. The topic of poverty appropriation of particular interest to me, because I happen to fit the full stereotype : I'm a millenial entrepreneur who lives in a tiny (20m²) secondary dwelling unit in my middle-class parents' suburban back yard along with my wife and her cat, and we spend our holidays in a 30 year old van that we have fitted for living. I don't think any of this is so cool, though. Life just happened to lead me here. Now, I can't pretend to speak for anybody but myself, but one thing I know for sure is that it brings me comfort to see that other people might find my lifestyle desirable. And, after over two years of living like this and learning to make the best of it, I am starting to see that a lot of "poor people things" are, in fact, just common sense. Kind of the same way it's just dumb to refuse to eat lobsters or quinoa. A small house is much easier to keep clean, for instance - in everyday life, that's anything but a detail - and home improvement projects are so much more affordable and quick and easy to do. On the other hand, I've spent the last ten years living below the poverty line in my country (France). One thing this has taught me is that poverty in the global North is nothing like the image non-poor people have of it. In countries where there is a social safety net, extreme poverty and shelterlessness are mostly linked to mental illness and addiction - hence the trashy attire that distasteful fashion designers find appropriate to appropriate. Regular poverty is often living in an artificially isolated neighbourhood under intense institutional discriminatory pressure. There's nothing romantic about it, and no one that I know of is appropriating that. Also, the real poor person thing is the hustle - working two jobs, one of which is uberized, while you sub-lease your bedroom on airbnb to pay the rent and sell weed on the side. No fun at all. There are two reasons why I say all this: - I feel like "poverty" appropriation in particular (by opposition to cultural appropriation especially) might be a victimless robbery in this case : who are these people, in the global North, who's main issue is that they lack living space ? They lack tenant security, building salubrity, decent public service and infrastructure, and opportunity for sure, but I feel like living space might rank lower on their priorities list. I don't claim to speak for anyone from a poor background, it's just the impression I'm under. Also, although youtube's tiny house sphere is rife with bullshit, the most politically loaded term I've encountered was "escaping the rent trap". And it seems fair enough to me : no matter how much you earn, mortgage-free home ownership will provide security and, to a certain extent, opportunity. - I get a sense that a lot of this new wave of tiny and mobile dwelling is due to the way middle-class youths' social deck of cards was reshuffled in the last two decades. Folks like me have access to family property, maybe some amount of money and freedom, but not to the guarantees our parents had. Will your company survive the next financial crash ? Will you still have a job after the next pandemic ? How expensive will it be to heat a house ten years from now ? Who knows ? So, in a way, the mechanisms that lead a generation to glamorize what is, in effect, a downgraded lifestyle, with terms like "minimalist" and "simple living", are maybe more along the lines of something like "self-appropriation" : appropriating one's own newly defined social condition to craft it into a social identity. So with cards such as access to good quality building materials and tools, sufficient time to plan out, design and create living spaces, skills and access to "youtube knowledge", we are collectively attempting to find a way to continue benefitting from living in chosen areas (a well-to-do suburb, a beautiful corner of the countryside, or the road), while also lowering our expectations. Considering how grim the future looks from here - and if I'm right about this - tiny houses should be much more than a fad. Just my two cents... sorry this is such a long comment ! ... and thanks again, you really got me thinking :)

[@lkj974]

What you are saying, especially in the last paragraph, confirms something I have suspected for a while. A lot of young people are anticipating a catastrophic future. I don’t think this is foolish, far from it, but I do think it is so sad. The world did not look nearly as chaotic and hopeless when I was your age. I have been following the tiny home thing lately on youtube, as well as following people who are coping with homelessness by moving into their car or van. I live in Portland Oregon and there is a tremendous amount of homelessness here and I have lived in big cities numerous times in my life and seen homelessness everywhere. I have never felt like that was not something that could happen to me. I guess I am looking at this content with the idea at the back of my mind that it would be good to know some of this stuff in case the worst happened. Getting rid of possesions I don’t really need and haven’t used in years is would make it much easier to pick up and go if I had to. After reading comments on this and other channels I realize I am not the only person thinking along these lines.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Having lived poor, I will say that having a place matters a lot more than how big/small/cute/ugly that place is. What you want out of a place to live is warm/cool enough for moderate comfort, something that keeps the weather off of you, and keeps unwanted people out of it. After that, it is 'nice' to have enough room to have people over for a dinner, and it is 'nice' to have a big room to relax in. But without the assurances in my first sentence, the rest is meaningless.

[@catherinemosey4255]

The main difference is the ability to choose. You choose to live in a tiny home in your parent's garden, meanwhile if your poor you're priced out of renting so live in a caravan outside your parents house, that's a creative and nessesary solution to a problem the alternative being street homelessness. Once you're poor you're often stuck there and as your belongings break and wear out (washing machines, cars, clothing etc) your chances decrease, relying on expensive public transport, expensive laundrettes, not getting the job because you're not as well turned out as the other candidates and relying on public transport. The trend for tiny living , such as slapping some white paint on a cubicle sized appartment and also slapping a high rent on it is pricing those that do low paid work in cities out of accomodation, in the UK, London in particular those doing low paid jobs (catering, cleaning, retail) live in shoddy shared houses and sharing rooms and even sharing beds (night shift cleaning sleeps during the day, burger restuarant worker sleeps at night) is becomeing more problem. Will bed-sharing become a new thing?

[@pneal77]

5th wheels are cool. My family moved into one last summer. Now we travel around the country and experience all it has to offer. All while saving money and remaining debt free.

[@doot8963]

Regarding spacious vs. tiny living, as with most everything there are two extremes, and the farther you reach on either extreme, the more problems arise. Sometimes both extremes are wrong but sometimes both are fine depending on the situation. For the average person, balance is better, but it's harder to market.

[@weremodel]

They are tearing down homes on good lots here in the Seattle area and building homes with three times the square footage for families of the same size, eliminating yards, cutting down oxygen producing machines, trees, all in the chase of the dollar. It is not affordable. The neighborhood is which I was raised and still call home is being wiped out by this. I am pestered every month to sell my home so they can build something larger. The materials demolished supposedly gets recycled but I do not think so. Then large amounts of lumber, plywood, composites, etc are used to create homes that trap people inside because there is no yard to utilize. I could go on but. I used to be one of those builders. Look at me. Not anymore.

[@thomas-w8948]

Honestly, this made me realize i might indeed be romanticizing this modern "alternative" lifestyles. I need to think about it. Thanks for sharing.

[@betruetoyourself7162]

Me too! Tiny house living and rving sounded great to me. But I ran the numbers and it is not more economical or more satisfying

[@Corvid_Moon]

For me, it's still a necessity. I will never be able to afford a half-million dollar urban house, and I'll never want to commit to a life-long mortgage either. My only realistic option is to acquire some land and build a little off-grid home while striving for self-employment and maintaining a as much of a full garden as possible, so as to heavily save on costs and be able to completely afford to live comfortably while having the safety and security I need.

[@Corvid_Moon]

@Ganga Din ¬ I definitely plan on it. My ultimate goal is to acquire a hectare of land no more than an hour's drive from a town or city for convenience, and have that land be my own little nature preserve (keeping it away from corporate greed as long as I own it), and live out the rest of my days in complete tranquility and independence.

[@blazkify]

As a person who like to watch videos on these tiny homes(and dreams of one), I would like to have my 2 cents. Well, I dont have a tiny home, but there are reasons I actually like these expensive, cleverly designed(thats the key) architectural tiny home instead of the actual poor peoples homes/apartment which are tiny. Its the utilisation of space, efficient positioning of compartments,furniture, and properly utilizing vertical height. Clever way of inviting sunlight and ventilation. Makes it much easier to be comfortable and tidy than an actual poor tiny homes. Because most of it is customised, hence expensive, its not something thats going to make it into poor tiny homes. And one compelling reason for tiny home vs big home is that everything is within reach/close. Theres some comfort knowing that you can reach the whole house within a few steps. So anyway, eventhough I like tiny homes, I still love having space, but more for my yard. So having a small space and then getting squeeze by your neighbours on both sides is not something I like. Again, thats not something an actual poor peoples tiny home gonna consider. In short, I like tiny homes architecture because of how efficiently they are designed to use space. Just because its small, doesnt mean I'll like it. idk about any movement or woke "poor appropriations", never really care tbh

[@LitrallyAJ]

I ended up buying a mobile home this year for about $5000. It is older and not aesthetically pleasing and I do get the vibe that people think it’s trashy but a tiny home of half the size would be FAR more costly.

[@northernAT]

In the mid 90s to mid 2000s I lived in a range of tiny alternative spaces : boat shed loft, 26' 50 yr old sail boat, wall tent, tipi and finally early tiny home. I Iearnt alot including how much I now appreciate hot running water, storage, space, flush toliets, central heating, lights etc... I think one aspect that gets overlooked in society is having a range of options to choose for periods of time appropriate to different life stages, economics and desires - and that it is ok to change. During those yrs I experienced and was drawn to a wide range of alternative homebuilding techniques including straw bale, cob, cord wood, rammed earth, log etc. I'm now living happily in a stick framed vinyl sided suburban box and it is great for my current family priorities. Belinda, I really appreciate the quality of your work and style, including validating peoples individual choices while pointing out the flaws or challenges with certain approaches.

[@TimBryan]

As always another great video! My interest in tiny houses stems from a deeper push to examine values, as well as being aware of behaviors and preferences that come from a place that cares too much about what other people think.

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks, Tim!

[@marthabenner6528]

30 years ago nearly everybody in America lived in what would be considered a very small house today. Our average sized houses with our new modern appliances were considered mansions. Every now and then my dad will point out a certain house and tell me how it was once the biggest fanciest house in the area, and it now matches all the houses around it, and I live in the richest (more expensive) part of the country.

[@raphlvlogs271]

Key word: marketing.

[@Anna_Raphael]

The tinay house movement started out because young and old people tried to escape high cost of renting and/or paying for mortgages that they cannot afford. As a rule of thumb your cost of paying for a place to live should be less than 30% of income but with rising price of housing unproportionately to income it becomes impossible to keep up with housing cost. In the beginning, I notice that people were happy with tiny homes because they can build them cheaply by themselves for less than $10,000. Then came the popularization of this life style and professional builders who wanted to build them like real homes, the price of tiny homes went up from a few thousand dollars to be $40,000 or more in average price which in the 1970s this amount of money can buy a single home with a piece of land. The other side of living in tiny home is that it is not ergonomically comfortable because most of them are very narrow, too narrow to be comfortable psychologically and physically. Most of the tiny homes that I saw are at the size of trailers, about 8 ft wide and 20 feet long. Many of them built from shipping containers. I used to like this movement but now I am thinking of something different. What is your thought on building a place that we can live comfortably and not feel claustrophobic?

[@seraphinasullivan4849]

My girlfriend and I have always felt uncomfortable around the "cottagecore" aesthetic as people who have grown up in rural poverty (interior Alaska, so not only were hospitals and most grocery stores out of the way, it also hit -30F pretty regularly between November and February, and got colder than that some days). My girlfriend helped their family run a small kosher goat farm and my family was in construction. We didn't always have running water and sometimes ran out of fuel. We knew other kids whose families had to trap and hunt just to keep everyone fed. My family couldn't even afford grass, we just laid sawdust in the yard and driveway so it wouldn't get too muddy when it rained. So it always feels weird to see people have these sanitized fantasies of living off the land in a little house in the woods. It's not having to raise chickens for eggs and growing your own vegetables because it costs too much in gas to buy them at the store to them, it's getting to do those things. Drinking and washing in well water and not having neighbors to call an ambulance for you when no one else is home is a luxury for them.

[@dumyjobby]

i totally agree with the tiny home fenomena explanation. my parents came from romania where homes were small, and we didn't have running water and many other modern facilities, so when my parents ,ade money they built the most luxurious house they could because that was their dream. owning a spacious house with all the rooms you need was a dream for them. i on the other hand want a small space because i like a more frugal lifestyle, i still want lots of land to pland trees, grow vetables and grow a few animals but my "dream" is 1/4 of what my parents house have. to me is not worth it to spend half of your life to pay for a house. but as every movement there are people who join it for different reasons. to me a tiny home is interesting because it's affordable and cheap to heat and cool, for others is cool because they can moove it, to others it's because they wan't to look cool.

[@sandozdelysid]

HaHAA! I am homeless in silicon valley, so I will subscribe to your channel. Here "tiny homes" are a cute way of describing housing for unwanted people in places where they used to have housing but were forced out but we refuse to leave. So a "tiny home" is just a homeless encampment here...

[@colormedubious4747]

In Current Year, when anyone throws accusatory pejoratives like "whatever appropriation," "whatever-phobic," or "whatever-ist" at you, it is not merely safe but highly recommended that you disregard the entirety of the verbal diarrhea that is certain to follow. Nothing of value will be lost.

[@wombatreccy]

I love the idea of downsizing but I try to be realistic about self sufficiency. Whenever I see or hear about compositing toilets...You mean you shit in a bucket. The point about tiny homes and mobile homes is spot on. The largest set back for affordable housing is land access, city coding ordinances, and declining amounts of mobile home parks. Just found the channel great work...keep it up.

[@laurais4047]

I'm late to the comment party on this video. Belinda, I'm an engineer and I adore your videos. You're so thorough and refreshing. There are quite a few tiny houses that I've seen tours on KZbin of that honestly broke my heart. Some are people downsizing, done are eccentric and frugal people, but a lot are just poverty and homelessness dressed up and called an alternative lifestyle. Some of these people just need wrap around services to get back on their feet. When I was in college I wanted to live in a tiny house with my cat, but my 1500 sqft house feels so cramped now with my kids and pets and WFH lifestyle. Anyway, great video, and from one smart, STEM lady to another, I'm so glad to see you doing well. Your work is excellent. I hope you continue to do well. I share your videos with all the brilliant woman engineers I work with and we all support you 💕

[@d.k.3316]

Incredibly thoughtful and well articulated. Thank you! - from a tiny home enthusiast who has been privileged enough to live in some very large spaces.

[@silvertube52]

I appreciate your grounded skepticism of these superficial trends. I have issue with the term "appropriate" because it assumes something is being taken. Poor people don't own poverty, it is a state of being they inhabit. It can be imitated but not appropriated.

[@st3vorocks290]

In biology, there is a principle known as convergent evolution where unrelated species will develop similar characteristics because it works really well. There is also a similar behavioral phenomenon where people figure out what does and does not work, and wind up doing the same things even though they have no contact with each other. In this case, the poor live simply because they have to, and some of the middle class are retuning to simplicity because it is less stressful. Also, many of the people who try tiny homes find out thy don't like living in a closet, and they give them up.

[@GetBackToWorkSteve]

Something else the tiny home movement seems to ignore is the changing dynamics of family life. I lived in a tiny studio apartment for 5 years when I was single, I loved the simplicity. But I cannot imagine sharing that space with a spouse, let alone children. As a family changes and grows, the space needs will grow as well, and I think it is short sighted to think you can life an entire life in a tiny house, unless you plan to stay forever alone.

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

This is really fascinating, Belinda! I never thought of it in this manner. I do want a home that is safe and won’t fall in on me during an earthquake. Unfortunately thousands of people die when they live in unreinforced masonry homes in earthquake areas. People make fun of Americans in the USA when they live in homes made of small wooden sticks, drywall and stucco exteriors, because there’s nothing left after a fire, tornado, hurricane or monsoon. Lightweight construction is best for earthquakes and steel frames are better than wooden frames, but their cost is higher.

[@BelindaCarr]

Great points, Mitchell!

[@bahamut149]

where i live it the other way around. Wooden house is to show off and way more expensive than steel frame house. a steel frame house here is equal to reinforced concreate frame house.

[@markharmon4963]

And superadobe is a composite of compressive earth, confined in tubes and reinforced with barbed wire mortar. Highly resistive to termites, wind, fire and earthquakes. There is a lot we can learn from the past and from vernacular architecture and combine it with the present.

[@vikkijacuinde6593]

I just had my tiny home built (thru Covid) as my marriage had ended, I worked from home not earning enough to go find a house for me and my two dogs and so the tiny house came onto my radar. why didn't I move into a caravan? because it was too claustrophobic for me , I needed a loft house , the height lets me breathe and I feel like I am still living in what looks like a standard house. So now I own my own home, I am contributing to the landowner therefore helping them afford their lifestyle and all are happy and I am contributing to the environment with compost and less waste

[@yohoho1400]

Does all conscious downsizing / footprint-deleveraging really automatically equal to poverty *appropriation*?! Oh, and one more aspect where your comparison breaks a bit: yes, price per sqft is a multiple of its closest neighbor mobile home (good point!) - but I see most tiny home owners get very much involved in design of the home, many even in the construction! Not really comparable with a classic appropriation pattern like „homeless designer clothes“, is it? 😁

[@WatersandWilderness]

I currently live in a van because I cannot afford an apartment. Back, before I became disabled and living in chronic pain, I worked and owned homes. I lost almost everything after I was hurt at work and became the target of horrific crimes that include being intentionally maimed during workers' comp medical procedures. I have looked at 400 sf park model homes and mobile homes. I cannot afford those either because of "Lot/space rent" and because my fico score plummeted due to lack of income while waiting for SSDI. Many park models and mobile homes are quite nice but if you want to live in a nice community, that is going to strip you of all your money plus some. I am also hoping that one day I will have "HUD housing" assistance so that I can rent an apartment but the waiting list is closed and they are not taking any more people. So, by no fault of my own, I have become homeless. Not only that, I understand that our government protects corporations who maim injured workers to get them off their books and onto social services. Ethics is a thing of the past. Empathy and compassion is also. To tell you the truth, if I could go back in time and warn myself about workers' comp, I would say, "Do not file a workers' comp claim, just go to a Doctor and pay for it yourself. You will be better off". Incidentally, my initial injury at work was a lower back herniated disc. Long story short, I was brutally forced under anesthesia and maimed from the base of my skull down to my tailbone. The muscles in my back were also maimed. Now, because of that, I am living on SSDI and I live in a van... and forgive me, but most people don't care about the lack of ethics and prolific wrongdoings that are facilitated against their fellow citizens. Corporations own our government elected officials therefore, at some time in everyone's life, they too may be the victim of corporate crime and/or government corruption.

[@Felipe2077tv]

I'm a very big fan of your videos, and I hope you continue to keep making them well past 20k subscribers! They're unique, educational, and fascinating.

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks a lot!

[@susugamushi]

It is just like thrifting and shopping in charity shopping. As a middle class, white male, I understand my position of privilege and know that I am lucky to chose to shop there for sustainability reasons. However, there is undoubtedly some guilt if I think about an example like a formal shirt I think is a steal at £4 to use once a week for work could be the shirt someone else could use for an interview which could ultimately change their lives. It’s hard to navigate the privilege but I agree and often I look at the economics of it and say am I pricing someone out? Or is this a niche created for me?

[@claireisham9586]

This is really interesting. I think it looks like aspirational living to the wealthy - Marie Antoinette famously has a flock of perfumed sheep so she could play at being a shepherdess. Except she never had to deal with any of the realities of actually being one. I think careless adoption of tiny house living can do the same but it does allow a higher standard of living for a couple who could just barely afford a house but can comfortably buy a tiny house.

[@BelindaCarr]

I hadn't heard about the perfumed sheep before. Thanks for sharing!

[@harktischris]

Living in one of the most expensive parts of the world (SF Bay Area), the "nicer" tiny homes have a real need where people want to get their foot in the door at a lower price point while also not living in a windowless closet with roommates. It's kind of ironic to me that there's an angle where they get attacked as poverty appropriation by rich folk when a) it exists as a niche here because people can't afford bigger spaces and b) a lot of local municipalities have been moving heaven & earth to try to BAN smaller homes for fear that their exclusive wealthier neighborhoods might *gasp* have working class or middle class residents moving in. (And trailer parks are already banned in many cities around there, that's not even an option.) That being said, what irks me about some tiny home videos is how they talk about how frugal their home was compared to buying in the city, and they're parked in some vast plot of land and they never ever talk about the financials of that, or if they do, it's frequently "i inherited it" "my parents own this estate" "it's family land" etc. Yeah, sure, that's definitely a realistic downsizing/affordability solution for all of us :|

[@BentigiriIsCewl]

Trailors and Trailor parks can be very cool.

[@Sg-gs]

Interesting. I came from a poor country as well and understand what you said about appropriation. I do believe any industry will take advantage of anything trendy. But I actually appreciate channels on KZbin that give us access to small or tiny homes. It gives me an idea of how I want my home to be like and it shows people's creativity.

[@vessbakalov8958]

I take a bit of an issue with the thought that tiny homes are for 'wealthy people'. While not necessarily poor, most people in the movement are trying to minimize expenses, environmental impact, etc. I am decidedly not a part of the movement, but I do feel they have some things right vs. the macmansion crowd. I feel this video may be putting a negative spin with the 'appropriating' nonsense on something that folks overall should welcome to minimize the environmental footprint on the environment.

[@ennuiii]

or maybe wealthy people should just consider the depth of the actions they're taking. you can act like it's nothing but when wealthy people create higher demand for thousand typically used by poorer individuals, what natural market response is elicited from this?

[@vessbakalov8958]

@@ennuiii as the video said - the product is different. Tiny houses are not (really) trailers. Tiny houses cost 400 per SQ ft. Trailers cost 40. So there is no overlap there. The people who buy tiny houses off grid don't place them in urban or suburban trailer parks.

[@politereminder6284]

I like "Never too small" because I just moved into a tiny house with a large compound. The one argument I don't understand is how a small home leads to being environmentally friendly (unless you are factoring in reduced transport). The one downside is that these designs seem to be for couples who don't want children. There doesn't seem to be a way to have a tiny house like what's on that channel and have kids. I have yet to see one for

[@christian3985]

I've watched a lot of your videos and really enjoy how you break down topics while providing accurate/logical (less bias) analysis. It's incredible so thank you for that!

[@newguardian5725]

0:55 I mean if we’re being real faded/torn jeans came out of starving musicians making it to popularity in the 80/90s. It’s all pretty common to want to look down to earth and rustic. Minimism is a thing too.

[@codeorbs]

Greetings from South Sudan, I wonder how many great channels like this are still out there waiting to be stumbled on.

[@anonharingenamn]

Very interesting subject. Being poor is not the same as living in a small home. Living a "simple life" even though you make $50k a year is not appropriating poverty. I feel like people want a bigger house because they believe they need it. Perhaps they have some "ideal" lifestyle in mind that just won't fit in their current home. Here in Stockholm, most people I know are willing to, at a higher cost, move to a *smaller* apartment just to get closer to the city center. Sure, they'd probably get a bigger home if they could afford it, but not at the expense of being close to the city.

[@CompuBrains27]

At a time when we're all being told we need to cut back and use less, if rich people (who typically use the most) want to volunteer to use less, I'm going to count that as a win.

[@NothusDeusVagus]

I wonder how many people bother to listen to your entire presentations before they go off their nut firing off their rant barrages about what they think you said as opposed to what you actually said... congratulations on your 20k. Keep up the good work... The advertising is still subtle enough, compared to many.. "Remember Ceasar, thou art mortal." ;-)

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks a lot for watching the entire thing! :) Could you please explain what you meant by the advertising is subtle?

[@NothusDeusVagus]

Belinda Carr - Granted they are building or design firms such as Schluter.com: Tile installation. Boring.com: Brick Company. Bonded ultra touch - insulation. Mineral Built - Concrete block and so on so it's reasonable and let's be fair, the building and construction industry is rife with practitioners of the art/science to name drop to in order to convey a product or material's qualities and quality to colleagues or clients alike (or so an applicable company might hope) no less or more than any other industry. Brand names, both sucessful (and some less so) become synonymous with those products or business systems that they are responsible for i.e. Coke, Jacuzzi, Exxon, Scotch tape, Levis, Edsel, Tesla and so on... My point is that it is hard to avoid using a brand name, so generic have they become even in everyday conversation and I'm saying you've done a fine job minimizing this aspect in your presentations in an enviroment where everything and anything is or can be monetised.

[@BelindaCarr]

@@NothusDeusVagus Ahh I get it. Thanks a lot for that explanation! I'm not paid by companies to make any of these videos (contrary to what the trolls think lol) so I'm trying to uncover the science and logic behind their products and construction. I really appreciate your perspective!

[@ajfvajf5]

Good points. It's one thing if there's a purpose to it, ie wanting to be able to be frugal while creative and/or able to pull up and move around as a way of life. But to glamorize it, yeah. For instance, despite the cons, I still want to build a container home and homestead, nothing cultural appropriation about it. Basically a do it yourself project for living out my retirement years.

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

Your videos are always thought-provoking and perspective challenging. I can't conceive of tiny home living or cob/earthen homes as "poverty appropriation." If I learn to speak Navajo, that in itself doesn't damage the Diné. If I start selling faux cultural items, or do things that detract from their culture or somehow make myself appear to actually be a member of the culture, that's appropriation. Living in a small house is just a sensible solution to certain choices. (Renting one on vacation is just renting one on vacation, like renting a campsite or hotel room means nothing, culturally.) There is no comparison between the average tiny home and a mobile home. There is a reason mobile homes cost about $40/sq ft. I have never seen one that wasn't substandard materials poorly assembled. Having too much personal experience with them, I'm with Jimmy Buffett when he said they looked a lot better as beer cans. Using ancient technology to accomplish something isn't "appropriation." Again, if I pretend to be of some culture, or pretend to be helping some culture, when all I'm really doing is building with cob, that's stupid. But building with cob, adobe, hay, doesn't take away from anyone's personal or cultural identity.

[@StarBeamSocial]

Anyone who makes the logical error of thinking high quality small living is appropriation, or even buying into such a concept, is missing at least one key point: quality. Understanding quality differs from quantity, in this case the size of a house, is making a category error in reasoning.

[@JCetto.2612]

Damn! I'm Peruvian and the Quinua was one of the most available food for our children. It was cheap and good. Now we can't eat this unless we pay an astronomical price! That's for addressing this issue, Belinda!

[@nonec384]

as allways they extract our resource and we are left to pay the price 😳

[@JCetto.2612]

@@nonec384 indeed

[@foreignparticle1320]

It's all about context (which, incidentally, is something the 'woke' don't seem to understand a lot of the time). As you noted, the tiny home movement was propelled by the '08 financial crisis, i.e. economic necessity for some people. Quinoa may have been proliferated by 'clever marketing', but it is also a food with significant health benefits - and who doesn't want to be healthier at a time when obesity is killing us? Lobster was an undesirable food for centuries, but ultimately it tastes great, hence its rapid rise to popularity. Adobe brick building methods have become widespread as a direct result of the growing environmental consciousness, and is a tangible benefit to the planet regardless of intention. That all of these examples are fundamentally good products that have only recently caught on says more about past attitudes than it does about present trends. (Note, I'm not including either of the fashion examples - that's art, which is a different conversation thread.) The problem with the whole concept of "appropriated poverty" is that I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. If I build a 1500sqft detached home in the burbs I'm ecologically irresponsible; if I build a tiny home I'm appropriating poverty. If I buy a city apartment and complain about the urine and needle-covered pavement outside I'm a heartless privileged pig. It seems to me that the only way to appease the neo-puritan elite who find something catastrophic in every single phenomenon that makes someone money somewhere in the supply chain, is to surrender all my earthly possessions and implicate myself in a real kind of poverty that would force me to live a real trailer, for want of any other option. And ironically, that would *actually* be poverty appropriation.

[@slow_thoughts_]

What is being sold to us as consumers is that tiny house living is the way to go because it’s more ecologically friendly (fewer building materials, smaller footprint on the land) and more affordable (depending on what materials you’re using) while still being desirable (romantic, stylish, nomadic, whatever), as you so clearly demonstrate here. The truth is, “choosing” a tiny home (or a trailer) because it’s all we can afford while the wealthy continue to build their 5 bedroom suburban ticky-tacky houses is just a con. Housing is increasingly unaffordable for the masses because we have incentivized real estate as investments rather than homes. Design solutions are limited. Only cultural change coupled with policy change will work towards a more equitable future rather than one where most of us rent or live in tiny boxes (on the ground or in the sky) while the rich continually build big McMansions that are a huge waste of energy. Love your channel, great content as always.

[@jeffreyatlee8785]

I love learning something about a subject that where my interest is far higher than my desire to build competence. Thank you

[@EgilWar]

Small house = small to zero mortgage = lower taxes = lower heating and cooling = lower maintenance.

[@psych0hans]

Great video and congratulations on crossing 20k!

[@whyyoulidl]

Many thanks for this; it's something I've been semi-guilty of as I love the vids on the 'Never too small' and 'Living big in a Tiny Home' channels, mainly for the 'use every inch' design philosophy and the flexibility of not being tied to a single location. Your presentation was very well balanced and gave food for thought. You continue to impress; look forward to going thru your back catalogue.

[@gwarlow]

Context is everything. Your videos are enlightening. How can one complain about that? Cheers and thank you.

[@ericeyerman6285]

I have a small home that was built in the 40's. As much tiny homes are glamorous my home might not be. But it is my first home and I like it.

[@headrobotics]

We should give up and disregard all claims of appropriation - any idea and concept can be adopted for any purpose by another - cross pollination of ideas feeds creativity

[@bingbong7431]

I've been trying to articulate this for a long time, thanks! (note 100% being taken)

[@RegebroRepairs]

OMG, I thought Derelicte by Mugatu was an OTT parody of fashion, and it turns out that no, Galliano actually did EXACTLY THAT the year before!? Poverty appropriation can make it easier for poor people to integrate with the middle class by, yes, pretending to be eco and cool, not poor. So it might be a good thing.

[@chrischew9366]

It is never the posessions you own, but the amount of money you shelled out to obtain such possessions. Also keeping those possessions aesthetically pleasing costs money and effort. In a way, its actually an indication that we are finding creative ways to make living with less appealing. Because more wealth is concentrated at the 1%, we appropriate and glamourise living small right now to fix the image problem of living in a small house. "Can't afford a mansion? No worries, buy a smaller home and furnish it with luxurious items. We have a community of small home owners that have done a great job marketing how living in a small home is amazing and just as good."

[@Tandemdesigns]

This is an amazing video and wonderful channel! My wife and I decided to build small and utilize clever storage to increase the quality of our house. Offsetting the cost of better insulation, windows and doors by reducing the overall size. I do think the tiny house movement is overrated. But for many people it’s a way to have a much higher quality home at a reduced cost. By the way your videos on insulation and green tech have also been so informative!

[@samuellennartsson6715]

I believe what separates the "tiny home" from a trailer is something similar to Parkinson's law: work expands to fill the time alloted to it; the things we own, expand to fill the rooms they are allocated to. The purposefulness of space is emphasised in choosing a smaller home. Another dictum that is tangential: the things we own often end up owning us. There is nothing wrong with having a personal library, a large kitchen, or a 200 sqft carpentryroom connected to your house. There is also nothing wrong with going to the local library to borrow books, having 2 kitchen knives, a cuttingboard and a gas-stove, or a simple toolbox with a modular screwdriver. Many of the handmedown items that I own simple clutter my space and mind, and I would no doubt be happier and more focused without them. I don't think it is necessarily appropriating what belongs to the poor (though I still think the term is silly), but rather people have a shrewd misconception of how wealthy they are, and, as a consequence, live above their means. Living smaller, similarly to eating beans and rice, is it really only for the poor? Thanks for the thought-provoking video. I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@michaelnurse9089]

Your comment comes closest to the way I feel. A tiny house forces you to be CONSCIOUS of what you keep. Ten years ago my wife had a cupboard of wine glasses. We don't drink wine (or any alcohol) but people gave them as a gift so she was reluctant to get rid of them. I complained they were eating up valuable space. She dug in and kept them for 10 years before relenting. After 10 years we worked out the rent for the space they used - about $500. The wine glasses had a replacement cost of about $12 ($3 for 4 around here) and we had never used them. Ditto a thousand other types of junk. At the end of the day, other than some appliances, what do you really need? Most people are just building massive temples dedicated to the god of themselves - i.e. status symbols.

[@JeffReeves]

I had an epiphany one day while I was watching through several tiny home and van/bus conversions: I'm not watching these videos because these things are just cool by themselves, I'm also watching these things because I'm afraid to become homeless at some point and this may be the only way to have a "home". For poor people it's much more reasonable to save for a down payment and apply for a home loan than it would be to try to build a tiny home or convert a van/bus into a living space. Maybe I should invest in a cardboard manufacturer and start trying to spin cardboard box "houses" as the latest cool thing wealthy eco-friendly people are doing?

[@wil.d_sage]

“Reclaimed recycled eco modular portable house with a low carbon footprint” Remember me when you get famous building the next biggest trend lol

[@peoplez129]

The problem is that tiny homes should be cheaper than they are, but those building them set the prices, and very few companies build them. They also tend to be relatively small companies, so they're employing anywhere from a couple people to a dozen people, and they build these tiny homes as projects over months of time. They know they can only build soo many per year, so they price it to what they want their profits to be. What the tiny home market needs is a scaling up in manufacturing quantity and speed. A tiny home might cost $15,000-20,000 to build, but sold for $30,000-45,000 or more. That's clearly not a fair price. It should be slimmed down to a max profit of $5,000 after materials and labor, and even that's pushing it. In a fair reality, it would be slimmed down to costing just materials and labor. But as they price it right now, it's kind of like if a contractor did some work on your home, charged you materials and labor costs, then thousands more just because. That's the tiny house market's pricing scheme.

[@douglanglois456]

Good to see someone talking about this. I never thought about the 'poverty appropriation' angle, but I always wondered at the donut hole in perceived value of different house sizes. 120 sq. ft 'tiny home' - high value. 1000 sq. ft. small house - you must be poor. 4000 sq. ft. McMansion - high value. Though ostensibly mobile, I wonder how many 'tiny homes' ever truly get moved around? Given the high sq. ft. building cost of tiny homes and the necessary space saving accoutrements, a stationary 600 sq. ft structure would probably come in at comparable costs. But that choice makes people feel/appear poor, rather than trendy.

[@cliftonsnider1520]

I’ve always said “tiny houses are great as long as you’ve got a big shop to do stuff in and store the stuff that won’t fit in the house”.

[@calessel3139]

This reminds me of what happened in the US with trucks during the 1980s. Back then many low income people bought inexpensive small or medium sized pickups instead of a new car. The auto industry saw this trend and pushed upgraded versions as early SUVs. Over the decades low end vehicle costs inflated which eventually resulted in the price of trucks (and SUVs) to skyrocket. Now all new vehicle categories are equally as expensive and unaffordable.

[@Mccaid]

That brought back memories when you said that about lobsters. My Grandpa never ate shrimp. Said it was only good for bait lol.

[@aurinoko]

Thanks for sharing good point for discussions. I like the idea of having a tiny home on a big piece of land so that it forces me to spend more time outdoors and have better understanding of role that home plays. To me home is a warm shelter and nothing more. Living tiny makes me feel like going back to origins not necessarily poverty. In general possessing more than I need itches my anti-consumeristic consciousness

[@jeffmathers355]

It's not poverty appropriation. More people are just getting poorer. They're also realizing our planet can't sustain the high impact world we grew up in.

[@gildardo]

Indeed..

[@grantflippin7808]

I disagree, poverty plus distance is luxury.

[@jeffmathers355]

@@grantflippin7808 Sorry I don't know what that means.

[@antomy5900]

But is it poor people that live in these tiny homes? It is more of result of popularity and social media likes, when people start living in small house they will feel crowded and stressed.

[@jeffmathers355]

@@antomy5900 Poorer, meaning their purchasing power declines as living costs skyrocket. It kinda makes sense that affordable alternatives would be popular in this climate. And as far as your space concerns, it's not supposed to be a solution for everyone.

[@ashleyvillarreal1013]

LOL this almost felt like click bait but this is very astute, and you're so right about so many of the topics here. Another ex: while people are now thrifting as a trend, 15 years ago we had to keep our mouth shut about where I got my clothes because it was "embarrassing". With almost everything, it comes down to how it's worn, enjoyed and/or marketed, and by whom. Great video. Thanks for covering this.

[@Deedee0007]

Hahahaha! The term "Poverty appropriation" is hilarious 😂 but I completely understand why you're using it. Great video 👍

[@MonkeyJedi99]

[fill in the blank] appropriation is becoming one of the most overused phrases by people with far too much time on their hands. It is something for them to fill their tweets with when they're not complaining about movies, the news, food ingredients, their neighbors' dog color, the way kids tie their shoes, the color of vanilla, the hair styles of the Kardashians, or how solar power is turning their aura fuzzy. My short hair could be considered neo-racist appropriation. Your pony tail is cheerleader appropriation. If sing along to popular songs on the radio, I'm appropriating youth culture. - This whole arena of thought exhausts my patience with humanity.

[@wil.d_sage]

Yeah, like her I automatically tune out when I hear “appropriation”

[@seanismboi]

“Wokedom” love it.

[@irksome100]

Your points are well made. Yes, we as humans have a tendency to become "bored" and are constantly looking for the new experience. We are also encouraged to become dissatisfied with what we have; that drives the marketing, advertisement, and consumer goods industry. A "minimalist" approach to life, as you mentioned, can be liberating. Keep the good work.

[@Gingersnaps_the_pumpkin_kitty]

I will say with tiny homes I think it's more about the fact that it's presented as a choice rather than an unfortunate "you have to." and it's in response to a fucked housing market. So it's not "you have to live in this tiny box and make it into a living space" it's "let's sink your living space down to what is necessary to save money and time". Part of the proof is that tiny homes are usually built to be homes but smaller with enough space to function, but things like those coffin apartments are clearly small closet sized spaces turned into housing and clearly lack space to properly function. So I don't think tiny homes are about poverty appropriation as it is an attempt to avoid poverty tbh.

[@SteveSoper1979]

5:54 - 6:39 So much truth being spoken here. I myself have no plans whatsoever to ever move into a tiny home yet my youtube suggestions are loaded with tiny home stuff because I watch it and find it interesting. Probably because it's something different. A nod to your grass is greener on the other side reference. As for the article posted. I read it. I don't have many takeaways from it other than the author seems jaded to me. Several times they referenced that it must be nice for these richer friends & people to be able to have the choice to do these things and live small, etc. Yes, having choice is nice. Why does it upset them so much that they do have choice? The author is really upset that they didn't have these choices growing up poor. Well that's not the rich friend's fault. We understand that they didn't get choice going up. I'm sure it was hard. I also disagree with the author's overall take on capitalism. Capitalism is the greatest system in the world where the free market drives the prices. I'd much rather let the people and businesses decide what makes it and what doesn't vs trusting government to think it can do it better or know what's best for us.

[@danieldev7061]

This video reminded me so much of this scene from South Park, thank you so much for always being realistic and speaking with the truth. Keep it up! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJOzoaygl86il7s

[@BelindaCarr]

Thanks, Daniel! South Park portrays the irony of our world so perfectly.

[@jennief7114]

LOL! Thanks for sharing the video! Yes! This video was very appropriate!

[@salimufari]

One of the big motivators for the alt building movement is also financial. The cost of maintaining a large home on a similar plot of land takes upkeep & time. Add that to the remote work & potential view outside most tiny home owners crave it's no wonder some chose this switch. Also many of the new tiny home owners are downsizing due to the stresses of keeping up with the neighbors or "playing the game" of suburban debt accumulation.

[@MONi_LALA]

My parents work their ass off to have bigger home, to afford meat, and afford things that help with our home chores. They literally lose their mind when they see tiny homes, being vegan, and hand washing laundry became popular.

[@hirenpatel7549]

Why? Must have a short temper

[@usagichan4704]

Wait is hand washing laundry actually popular. why, takes forever and isn't nice on the hands.

[@EDDSWORLDMEGAFAN]

I dont need alot of space. I just want that space to look nice, plus with a smaller space its easier to renovate if you ever dislike the look. Being a fan of building what I own, a tiny home would also be more feasible. Also, smaller home, bigger yard, forehead. That said, my dreams of a small compact home went away when i got marriee, unfortunately.

[@commonomics]

Tiny homes aren’t ‘poverty appropriation’, it’s for middle class people who don’t want to be saddled with a massive mortgage like society promotes. It’s for people who are in between being able to afford a home and can afford a bit more than a trailer park. Or you know people who want to reduce their carbon footstep/don’t want to be tied down to a single location/trying to pay off their student loans. Just because someone might have a certain financial threshold and wants a tiny home, they’re glamorizing poverty? These types of terms are completely unscientific and have no basis in fact. These terms are literally made up by people who think their neatly designed ig slides are fact, when they are opinions. People call trailer parks trash because of the people on them, the rampant drug use, the theft, alcoholism and abuse.

[@greenwaybikexploring]

Good insights! I have watched from a distance some elements of the small/micro/tiny home movement and included some minimalism, van-life, digital nomad elements in my observation. I agree that there are many innovative design elements that are introduced by designing homes for small-than-average sizes, and the format of placing the structure into a landscape becomes more pragmatic as the possibilities increase for a tiny-home-on-wheels to be moved around a property according to seasonal changes. I like your insights into the topics you addressed. My spouse has many times repeated that she does not want a tiny house or anything similar; I've repeatedly reassured her that I agree. I made a promise (largely so that we could talk about the topic without any lingering anxiety that I was trying to 'talk her into it') that I would never ask her to live in a house of fewer than 1000 sq ft. With our three children, that would even be uncomfortable; I think with the three children I should update my promise to something more like 1200 sq ft or perhaps 1400 sq ft. But, several innovations from a design perspective are revolutionary! We're in a townhouse currently in which the layout is uncomfortable and would present an expensive proposition to make renovations (including that I could not add to the floorplan due to being a middle townhouse). I would be happy to attempt designing my own home, but that presents many hurdles, such as land ownership, which is a very large factor in the expense. If I were free to move my own tiny-house-on-wheels rather than having to sell my townhouse and plan for temporary shelter while the home is being built, it could make such a huge difference in the endeavor. There are several factors to my current housing that are similarly impacted by external factors, like nearness to work, housing market considerations, community amenities, and land zoning laws.

[@islandhoppe6715]

Very interesting and accurate topics indeed ! 🙏🙂

[@charlesmullins9493]

I there a design you recommend for those living in poverty? I’m looking for options in my community.