Tiny homes were a millennial fad and became a Hail Mary shot at solving homelessness

The phenomenon has its roots in the early 2000s, when many millennials rebelled against the mcmansion-leaning norms of late 20th century culture. The millennial aesthetic is famously minimalist, and the tiny home was minimalism writ large—meaning very, very small. 

But over the last few years, tiny homes have morphed from a millennial lifestyle trend or life hack into a potential solution to the housing crisis. As an affordability crisis grips the nation and homelessness surges, tiny-home communities have sprouted from Wisconsin to Austin. In California, grappling with one of the worst housing crises in the nation Gov. Gavin Newsom promised last year to deliver 1,200 tiny homes as interim housing in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and Sacramento.

Unfortunately, it seems that tiny homes are an imperfect solution to high housing costs and rising homelessness. So why, then, do politicians, nonprofits and even do-gooder corporations love tiny homes so much? It has something to do with Americans’ persistent addiction: an obsession with single-family homes. 

When it comes to housing, America is different

America does housing differently from most other places—and nothing shows that quite like the 21st century phenomenon of the tiny home. The caricature of a 1950s-style suburban house, in miniature, speaks to something in the American identity that equates being a homeowner with having your own space that’s separating you from others.

“In other countries,” University of Georgia professor Sonia Hirt told Fortune, “where people are not so interested in actually living with their own private lot, their homeownership rates, for example, are much higher than ours.” As dean of Georgia’s college of environmental design, Hirt has long…