Issa Wild has built five tiny homes for islanders since he started his Orcas Island construction company two years ago — and he’s just getting started.

“We’re trying to build more houses and make it affordable, but the county regulations are really restrictive,” said Wild, owner of the homebuilder Cascadia Homestead. “We’re trying to create density.”

The question of density is common in San Juan County, where long-term rentals are scarce and home prices are high.

U.S. Census data shows 36 percent of the county homes are vacant, most likely being used as vacation homes. The median home price hasn’t been below $300,000 in the last decade, according to research by the University of Washington.

A possible solution — mentioned by islanders from county councilmen to builders like Wild — is tiny homes.

Tiny homes can range from the size of a shed, about 100 square feet, to the size of a garage, about 700 square feet. They can be placed on a trailer or foundation. Wild sells roughly 200-square-foot models from $22,500 to $54,800, depending on style and amenities. To Wild, county code hasn’t caught up to this tiny house trend.

“Sometimes the system is antiquated,” said Wild.

Currently, there is no county or Town of Friday Harbor code that addresses tiny houses, specifically, according to those jurisdictions’ planning departments. This creates a gray market,” according to Wild, where many of his tiny home customers aren’t permitting them as homes, but temporary, moveable structures in rural areas.

“People are quiet about it,” he said. The silence doesn’t tip off county officials, who enforce code by relying on neighbors to submit complaints.

Red tape, like this and in many parts of the U.S., often stops this national movement towards minimal living, spurred after the 2008 recession when many Americans lost their homes, and fueled by wage stagnation and high student loan debt.

On the islands, setting up tiny homes in rural areas is costly, not just because of the land price, but also installing a septic system, which can cost $40,000, and a number of permits needed. This encourages islanders to build bigger homes, said Wild; why spend $100,000 to make your home legal, and only live in a 700-square-foot structure?

“There are ways for a tiny house to be permitted but it’s small and so costly to get something certified as a dwelling, it almost doesn’t make financial sense,” said Wild.

He added that financing for tiny homes is almost impossible because of the common zoning restrictions throughout the country.

The more cost-effective way to install a tiny home, said Wild, is sharing the land, but the county limits guest houses in rural residential zones, which applies to tiny homes as well.

Each year, county officials award 12 property owners in rural residential zones a permit to build a guest house, which is not attached to their main house. That means, no more than one tiny home can be on the property with a house in the country unless a permit through this lottery is obtained.

“[County code] really restricts anyone living together, like forming a community or sharing land to save money,” said Wild.

On June 6, San Juan County Building Advisory members recommended to the county council to allow at least one tiny home in addition to the main house in rural residential zones. The tiny home would be a maximum of 400 square feet. They also requested permission units’ utilities to be “self-contained.” This would allow alternative sources like composting toilets and rain catchment systems, which is currently prohibited for detached guest houses.

That detached dwelling unit limitation was a “compromise,” according to BAC secretary Richard Russell to litigation brought after the county allowed every parcel in the rural residential zone to include a detached guest house.

State officials ruled that the possibility of doubling the density in the country did not match the density projection laid out in the county comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan sets the county’s goals for growth and is overseen by the state.

The new allowance for the additional property will be different, attests Russell. BAC members will create a study to address the visual and environmental impact of allowing tiny homes in the area. A study wasn’t performed last time, he said, which opened the doors for appeals.

The need for housing is too critical to limit density, said Russell.

“There are people living in this county who would like to continue living here but can’t afford to,” said Russell. “Do you decide there’s no place for them and have them move away? The people who can stay are those who can afford the large cost of land.”

The comprehensive plan will be updated this year and density limits could be increased, according to San Juan County Councilman Jamie Stephens. Yet, even if the guest house limit is lifted, what assurance is there that these dwellings — whether a tiny house or guest house — will be long-term rentals at affordable costs?

“I haven’t had that questioned answered,” said Stephens. “If [a tiny house] is a guest house, that doesn’t solve affordable housing.”

To Stephens, adding more dwellings to rural zones doesn’t, in itself, create affordable housing, as the property owners set the rental prices and lengths.

Tiny homes, sold in the San Juans now, are similarly priced as average sized homes, around 2,000 square feet. According to data from a real estate website for the Northwest, 50 San Juan County homes under 700 square feet were sold in the past two years ranging from $80,000 to $600,000, depending on size. Eighteen were under $300,000 and the higher prices, don’t always come with more land.

Windermere broker, Sarah Jones, who primarily sells on the non-ferry served islands, said many off-island buyers are interested in purchasing smaller homes. Jones, herself, lives in a roughly 700 square-foot home on Decatur and finds purchasers of vacant land also choosing to build small due to the high construction costs in the islands.

What makes the islands unique, said Jones, is the county’s owner/builder permits, which allows property owners to build their own structures under 2,000 square feet, with their own materials. These permits are also about half the cost of the standard building permit. This helps islanders build tiny homes as the main structure on their properties at reasonable prices.

“The county is actually very supportive of building tiny structures,” said Jones. “The county is not the obstacle; the biggest issue for people building in San Juan County is CC&Rs.”

Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, or CC&Rs, are written into many county developments, said Jones, which sometimes set size limitations and exclude homes on wheels. These prohibit tiny homes, as well as mobile homes, trailers and recreational vehicles.

The county has no limits on the size of new structures or living in trailers, but the Town of Friday Harbor prohibits residents from living in RVs and tiny homes on wheels, except for the manufactured and mobile home park off Roche Harbor Road.

“If we opened that up [in residential zoning], in the summertime, in every driveway, there’d be a camper and someone living in it,” said Mike Bertrand, with the town’s planning department. “That’s not what a neighborhood should be.”

Dense areas — like Friday Harbor on San Juan, Eastsound in Orcas and Lopez Village on Lopez Island — is where multiple tiny homes could be installed today, in multi-use zones. Hooking up to shared water and sewer systems in these locations, however, can be pricey.

Three tiny homes, explained Bertrand, could hook up to a standard water meter at roughly $10,600, each, in a multi-family zone. Each unit would then need to hook up to sewer, which would be $9,100 each. Bertrand said there are about 12 tiny homes in the town.

Paul Kamin of Eastsound Water said an owner of a tiny home in a multi-unit Eastsound development would pay $12,7000 to hook up to water.

“I don’t think a tiny house would need that much water,” he added.

According to Kamin, the county could make some changes to lower costs, but the system is mostly regulated by the state.

Steven Cade of the Fisherman Bay Water Association in Lopez Village said a new membership is about $8,000, then about $1,500 for the materials and labor to add the property to the system.

BAC members are awaiting council to accept a policy to “make legal the use of tiny homes as “year-round habitable dwellings” in the county, according to their proposal. Councilman Stephens wants plans from the BAC on how tiny homes can create affordable housing. The county planning department will make those plans, said Russell, while the BAC will give recommendations.

Meanwhile, Wild is trying to help islanders find homes.

“Almost every business I talked to said they can’t hire staff because they can’t find housing,” he said. “We’re trying to address that.”