Tuscaloosa, AL Accessory Structures: Tiny Homes (2026)

Section 25-31 of the Tuscaloosa Zoning Ordinance draws the line by foundation, not by size alone. Any single-family dwelling unit with 400 square feet or less of gross floor area is a tiny house. If it is installed on an engineered permanent foundation and constructed in accordance with the building code, the ordinance treats it as a single-family detached dwelling: a building not physically attached to any other principal structure that contains one dwelling unit for one family and is not a student-oriented dwelling. It then follows the same use-table entry and district standards as any other house in the zoning district where it sits.

A tiny house that is not on an engineered permanent foundation, such as a unit kept on wheels or set on blocks, is treated as a mobile home dwelling. Section 25-99(e)(1)(viii) then controls: a mobile home shall not be used as a dwelling except in a permitted mobile home park or mobile home subdivision, in accordance with chapter 15 of the City Code, the Tuscaloosa Mobile Home Park Ordinance. Section 25-31 adds that a mobile home dwelling must comply with the Uniform Standards Code for Manufactured Homes Act at Code of Ala. 1975, § 24-5-1 et seq. Section 25-72 describes the land set aside for this use: the mobile home residential (MHR) district exists to provide mobile home neighborhoods, and Table V-1 in § 25-99 prints a single permitted-by-right entry for the mobile home dwelling use.

Occupancy rules follow the classification. Under § 25-99(e)(1)(i), no more than three unrelated persons can live together in a single dwelling unit, with separate limits for historic overlay districts and for student-oriented uses. A tiny house therefore carries no special exemption from the household limits that apply to a full-size house.

The only relief for a non-foundation unit on an ordinary residential lot is the temporary dwelling rule in § 25-111(g). A mobile home can be approved by special exception permit under § 25-39 on a lot with a household living use other than a multifamily dwelling, where it will alleviate a serious family hardship, and it must be removed within thirty (30) days after the hardship ends. The zoning board of adjustment decides special exception applications.