Tiny houses don't deserve big hype

As housing prices in major cities climb further out of reach of ordinary Canadians, the "tiny house" is being sold as an affordable solution for first-time home owners. But not everyone is buying in to the idea.

Michael Stewart is a blogger in Victoria, and he says tiny houses are "nothing more than a middle class fantasy."

He argues that there are real problems with housing affordability in many areas of the country, but simple scaling down one's living area isn't going to solve them.

Stewart commends the desire to consume less, and live smaller. But he says romanticizing tiny perfect little homes, with designer finishes and stainless steel micro-appliances, won't do much to help those who need homes the most.

Stewart argues that laneway homes, microlofts, and tiny houses are merely "band-aid solutions to social problems that require social fixes."

There's something deeply troubling about holding up a rarefied, consumer-driven living experience as some kind of "solution" to a deep-seated social problem- Michael Stewart

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