Editorial: Tiny Houses – Huge Mansions

We’re wondering if anyone else is struck by a current trend in housing. A local Sonoma developer recently proposed plans to build two massive homes of 5,500 square feet each, stating that his 2,500 square foot home on Napa Street is too small. At the other end of the spectrum, “tiny” houses are currently being hailed as a solution to the homeless crisis.

If ever there were a perfect metaphor for what currently ails American society, the Tiny House/Huge Mansion trend is it. Our American economy has been described as hour-glass shaped, grossly distorted at both the upper and lower ends. The number of millionaires is growing while the number of homeless and poor is increasing just as fast.

The reasons for this are varied; some point to tax codes which allow the wealthy to pay the lowest percentage of taxes while forcing those at the bottom to pay the highest. It is indisputable that taxes like sales tax end up representing a higher percentage of income for the poor than the rich. Other people point to job discrimination; women, for example, earn less per hour than men, and ethnic minorities are denied jobs more frequently than Caucasians.

Racists, bigots and haters of all types like to blame poverty on the poor, saying poor people and minorities are poor because they are lazy and stupid. When racists and bigots are wealthy, they blame government, welfare, and the nanny state and then argue that the answer to solving poverty is regulation-free markets and “trickle down” economics.

What’s true is that poverty is a long-standing and persistent problem, and in our modern corporate-style economy has only become more challenging. Trade unions, which used to represent workers and help build America’s middle class, now represent less than 7% of the workforce. An end to limitations on interest rates has legalized usury. Equating poverty with moral failings, many prefer to punish rather than help the poor.

In Los Angeles, discussion of a parcel tax to provide funding to support programs for the homeless is taking place. In this way, huge mansions will help finance tiny homes. Here in the City of the Sonoma and Sonoma Valley, where the average price of a home is upwards of $600,000 and an increasing number of multi-million dollar homes are being built, this type of revenue–generating idea to support affordable housing has merit.

So we propose –again–  looking at an increase of the real estate transfer tax, which is currently only fifty-five cents per thousand on the sale of a home. For a one-million dollar home sale, that equates to only $550; tripling  or quadrupling  that amount will pose no financial barrier to a buyer, and when combined with other revenue generating ideas such as raising hotel room taxes, could actually make a difference for those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

While the City and County wring their hands and try to find safe overnight parking locations for people living out of their cars, workable and easily implemented solutions exist to raise money needed to help those without any resources. Tiny homes may be a reasonable idea, but unless we begin to address the inequities represented by huge mansions, tiny homes will remain a tiny solution to a huge and growing problem.

 SUN Editorial Board