The who, what, where and why of tiny homes in Ottawa

The tiny home movement describes the architectural and social movement that promotes living in small homes. There is no universal definition of what constitutes a tiny house, but a structure under 1000 sq ft is generally accepted to be a tiny home.

Tiny homes can be on wheels, or not, and come in many different shapes, sizes and layouts. As of 2016, Ottawa will be the first city in Ontario to allow the use of tiny homes. This new legislation refers to tiny homes as coach houses, which back in the day was an outbuilding originally built to house horse-drawn carriages.

Many old coach houses have been modified to other uses such as apartments, guest houses, automobile garages, offices, workshops, retail shops, bars, restaurants, or storage buildings.