Tiny houses are all cute, but there are a lot of hidden issues to owning any house -- including zoning. A town near Colorado Springs is going to allow homes smaller than 600 square feet, and a tiny home builder is going to make a subdivision.

I get nervous when tiny homes are pitched as the "only" solution.

In Colorado, the small units could be a solution to a chronic mountain-town problem: lack of affordable housing for the people who work there. That’s how Rod Stambaugh, founder and president of Sprout Tiny Homes, sees them. His plan: to build the world’s first tiny-home subdivision and revolutionize the rural economy in the process.

“Tiny homes are the only solution that can save some of these declining rural communities or provide quality affordable housing in…the mountain communities that are booming,” he says.

"...Salida [CO] units will have long-term leases, starting at $750 per month for the 262-square-foot homes and increasing to $1,400 per month for the 672-square-foot units, Stambaugh says".

That doesn't strike me as a particularly good deal.