Oregon, once one of the states that readily accepted tiny houses on wheels (THOW), has decided to change its building codes which effectively ends the state’s acceptance of movable tiny houses. This negatively affects Oregon’s tiny house industry.
Oregon’s THOW industry now includes a growing number of professional builders providing viable, affordable THOWs built to RV codes.
Tiny home trailers are no longer considered travel trailers and cannot be titled or registered.
Many tiny house builders in Oregon have been building to the RV association’s codes, which are accepted internationally as the industry standard for building tiny houses. In 2017, Oregon specifically removed THOWs from those RV codes.
A lot of states have written building codes giving THOWs a way to travel freely in their states and changed zoning laws to allow them in more areas. Oregon by declassifying THOWs from RV building codes, means that people that want to buy a Tiny House and move them from place to place within the state will be denied access to public roads without a special provisional permit.
THOW manufacturers in Oregon will not be allowed to tow their homes to buyers in surrounding states unless put on a flatbed trailer which means they will probably exceed the height limit. These THOW builders cannot get their THOW certified as an RV in other states because they were manufactured in Oregon which is already forcing some companies to move their operations out of state.
What was once an industry with a future in Oregon is fast becoming a distant memory. Will other states look at this as a way to curtail the the THOW movement?
