Christy McPherson describes Hailey, Idaho, as her little slice of heaven. She loves her life there. She owns a threebedroom house on the outskirts of town and a small accounting business on Hailey’s Main Street, but it doesn’t come cheap.

In the last four years alone, an influx of the wealthy elite has driven housing prices in Hailey up nearly 50 percent, creating an affordable housing crisis. People like teachers and police officers can no longer afford to live in the community where they work. Christy was searching for a way to help others who were struggling to find an affordable place to live, when she got an idea to build an ADU in her backyard, live in it and rent out her house to a local family at a reduced rate. The solution: Snake River Tiny Homes.

Her new home was delivered on wheels and anchored into place for longterm use, but it’s also totally portable, giving her flexibility for the future. A young couple, both of whom work in town, and their daughter are now renting her main house at a rate that’s reasonable for them. Christy acknowledges her ADU journey is just a small step in a bigger housing problem, but she hopes that others in town will follow her tiny home example.

Interested in building your own tiny home? Check out aarp.org/adu for resources to help you jumpstart your dream build.

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