MUSKEGON, Mich. — When Tiny Digs Lakeshore opened on Father’s Day last month, more than 1,000 people toured the seven custom-built tiny houses on the property within three hours.
Since then, owner Pam Westra said they’ve been getting booked up.
“We offer tiny house short-term rental stays for people coming to Muskegon for maybe a little vacation or a staycation, overnight getaways or a week-long stay to go to the beach,” Westra said during an interview with FOX 17 on Friday.
Each tiny house has a queen-sized bed in a loft and an outdoor patio or front porch. Some have fireplaces, others have couches that fold out into additional sleeping areas.
Each house also has a theme — vineyard, log cabin, farmstand or tiki hut— with a kitchenette, bathroom and living area to match.
“People are very, very interested and that’s one of the reasons why we brought this here to Muskegon,” said Westra, who has a similar property in Portland, Oregon with her husband. “I think Muskegon will be a town that allows tiny house living eventually.”
She said tiny house communities are popping up on the east coast, west coast and in the south. However, there aren't many in the Midwest.
According to Porch Research, the most affordable tiny homes were in North Dakota, New Hampshire and New Jersey. Also, a 2021 survey revealed that 86 percent of first-time home buyers, who were considering purchasing a tiny house, cited “affordability, efficiency and eco-friendliness” as their top reasons.
“Well they’re an alternative to the housing options that are out there currently,” said Zack Giffin, host of the show Tiny House Nation, which aired for five seasons on FYI and A&E networks. “I think the original popularity of tiny houses kind of came out of the 2008 financial crisis. And, what’s ironic is that the same factors that led to the popularity back then are even more extreme today.”
Giffin, who’s also the vice president of the Tiny Home Industry Association, said that since then the demographics of the country have changed, and more people are considering climate change, sustainability, and minimalism when purchasing or renting homes.
“There’s a lot more people that are waiting longer to get married,” he said during a Zoom interview on Friday afternoon. “Divorce rates are up, and just family size in general is smaller than what it was in previous generations.”
He said the housing stock that was built decades ago doesn’t fit many people’s needs today. So, people see tiny houses as a better fit for their needs.
Westra agreed.
She gets phone calls from people who want to stay at Tiny Digs Lakeshore because they want to experience what it’s like to live in a tiny house before purchasing one. So, she’s grateful to help them make that decision.
“People are really interested in a smaller footprint, less maintenance and upkeep, less expenses. And there’s more and more people, [who are] a single person living alone or even just two people,” she said. “So, tiny house living is more appealing to them.”
