Board directs ADU advisory board to produce tiny‑home white paper, excludes rural policy area

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on May 6 voted to ask the Affordable Dwelling Unit (ADU) Advisory Board to prepare a white paper examining tiny‑home communities as an affordable‑housing option.

Chair Phyllis Randall moved the board direct the ADU advisory board to develop the white paper and establish an ADU ad‑hoc committee to help define the study’s scope. Randall said the paper should examine feasibility, financing, construction types, regulation and program models and explicitly exclude the county’s Rural Policy Area from the study scope. Supervisor Tim Saines seconded the motion; the board approved it by voice vote as recorded in the meeting.

Staff told supervisors they expect the ADU advisory board to return a proposed scope to the board quickly and that the white paper itself would likely be completed later in the year. Speakers and supervisors noted several themes for the study: prototype building methods (modular, 3‑D printed, container‑based), supportive services for formerly homeless individuals or people exiting treatment, potential for county land‑banking or land‑lease models, and how building codes and DFS rules affect tiny units and occupancy.

Supervisors said the study should examine whether tiny homes can serve specific populations — seniors on fixed incomes, reentry clients, recent graduates and others — and identify appropriate zoning districts, potential public‑private partners and financing options.

The motion passed without recorded opposition; staff will return with a proposed project scope and an ADU ad‑hoc committee membership plan for board review.