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TINY HOUSES IN IOWA

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Tiny house builders in Iowa

Tiny House Regulations and Zoning Requirements in Iowa

Tiny homes are not a common sight in Iowa. The state has yet to come around to accepting them, and the laws in most of the states outright forbid them.
In most towns and cities, the building codes make it almost impossible to have a tiny house.

In the small town of Stuart, an hour’s drive from Des Moines, a minimum of 900 square feet of living space is required.
In the city of Grimes, there is no specific minimum square footage, but other requirements on ceiling heights, stairs etc. effectively rule out most tiny house designs.

In Des Moines, a home must be 24 feet wide. Here, the concept of tiny houses is met with great resistance, with a recent proposal for a tiny home community development being shut down.

Some cities in the state have tried to be a bit progressive, for example Iowa Falls, which reduced the minimum size for new houses from 600 square feet to 500.
But overall, Iowa is still miles behind other states in this regard.

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