As Cleveland’s Scene Magazine chronicled in this article,  a two house “tiny home experiment” in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood of the city appears to have not quite lived up to the expectations of those involved.

Let’s move beyond the hand ringing and disappointment that these not really tiny but small houses failed to garner any buyers despite, according to the Scene writer, being “heavily-marketed” by “top realtors” and dissect this failed experiment:

First the players — the local community development group Detroit Shoreway (DSCDO), Citizens Bank, and Sutton Development. All well respected in the City of Cleveland, involved in neighborhood redevelopment and revitalization, surely a team that could pull this off.

What they built — two small energy efficient houses (one 583 and one 628 square feet) on two vacant lots apparently created by splitting an existing parcel according to the Cuyahoga County GIS website. The houses were initially listed at $129,000 and $149,000 according to the Scene article, which equates to roughly $221 and $237 per square foot respectively.

Where they built — the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood which has seen significant public and private reinvestment and revitalization in recent years focused largely on the main commercial district at Detroit Ave. and W. 65th Street as well as blocks to the north towards Lake Erie which border an expressway undergoing conversion to a 35 mph boulevard. As of this writing Zillow calculates the median home value in the neighborhood at $68,400 with a 4.6% jump in the previous year.

Now you can trust that all the principals in this endeavor, along with government officials and community supporters, spoke about the importance of doing this project for all the right reasons, in sum to offer better or alternative housing options in a city struggling with dilapidated housing stock. Or you can read more about it here. But the question has to be asked…what were they thinking???

Reading between the lines (or even based on some quotes in the above articles) it seems the group behind this effort really has no concept of what is driving people’s interest in tiny or smaller homes. Or worse they are just trying to latch onto this “trendy” movement to offer what certainly is some of the most expensive housing per square foot in the city of Cleveland let alone Detroit Shoreway. Maybe both things. It would be laughable if unfortunately it wasn’t reality.

More importantly this failed “experiment” clearly demonstrates that the housing establishment in cities like Cleveland — the government, CDCs, developers, banks, realtors — collectively have a lot to learn. While only one example, it doesn’t exactly instill confidence in their ability to find solutions for issues like lack of affordable replacement housing, both for existing residents and as driver for revitalizing neighborhoods.