A new law could introduce mortgages for building tiny homes

Daily Mail​

23-07-2025

A new proposed law could make it easier to take on a loan to build a mobile home.
Two congressmen have joined forces to present a bill that would create a new government-backed loan for Americans who want to build a tiny home on their property.
Mobile homes have become increasingly popular as the rising cost of housing has shut many out of the dream of home ownership.
Now existing homeowners want to build tiny homes on their properties - known as accessory dwelling units, or ADUs - to house their adult children, elderly parents or to let out to guests as a way of generating income.
Even home builders are including ADUs as a selling point on properties.
Sam Liccardo, a Democrat from California and Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican, are co-leading the ADU bill that would allow for the unique second mortgages.
'This is a really pressing issue for Americans,' Liccardo said of the housing crisis.
'But it has not become nearly pressing enough for Congress,' he told The Wall Street Journal.
ADUs are studio-style housing units which are normally between 600 and 1,200 square feet.
The bill aims to ease the risk for private lenders to offer second mortgages for ADU construction by providing a government backstop in case the homeowner defaults, according to the Journal.
So far the bill has been endorsed by at least 16 Democratic and Republican House members as well as the National Association of Home Builders and other influential industry groups.
In 2020 around 1.4 million American homes had a supplemental tiny home on their property, and the trend is only gathering pace.
The US is currently short 4 million homes and almost one third of all households are deemed to be 'cost-burdened,' because they spend more than a third of their income on rent or mortgage payments, the Journal reported.
The housing crisis is increasingly encroaching onto politics and lawmakers are taking note.
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently rolled back a landmark environmental law in a bid to boost house building.
Lawmakers are also warming up to the idea that tiny homes could be a way to ease the housing crisis as they can be erected quicker and more cheaply, and often encounter less red tape than traditional full-size properties.
Republican Andrew Garbarino (pictured) has worked with Democrat Liccardo to present the bill
'This happened to be a lower-hanging fruit,' Liccardo explained.
'It helps to start in an area where you can actually get something done.'
For that reason modular home builders have targeted victims of the Los Angeles fires with offers of cheaper and quicker rebuilding options.
Many homeowners who saw their properties burned to the ground were then met with the compounding heartbreak of home insurance payouts that will only cover a fraction of the rebuilding costs.
Now businesses such as ICON and Hapi Homes see an opening to the mass market their tiny homes, which are built off-site with the help of 3-D printers and then transported to their final location.
Building new homes off-site is often much cheaper because materials can be purchased in bulk and fewer workers are required for less time.
After wildfires devastated Maui, Hawaii, in 2023 more than 100 modular companies flooded the building market.