Edward Erfurt sent along a link to Tumbleweed Houses, a company in California that makes pint-sized (40-500 sq. ft.) prefab houses that look, well, darn cute.

These things would look just silly facing a typical street, surrounded by typically sized houses. What I’m imagining is a co-housing bungalow court: ten tiny houses could easily fit on a 50′ x 125′ double lot, with room for a not-tiny common house (with laundry, gathering space, a real kitchen, and parking for shared cars) and many tiny trees. At $30,000 for each “deluxe” 12′ x 16′ house, the finished cost with land would still be less than $50K per tiny house. That’s $300/month (at 6% interest): less than many people pay for their cars, far below construction cost of comparably dense multifamily, and cheaper, even, than new SROs which give their residents less space, less privacy, and less dignity.