Jay Shafer is the creator and resident of the smallest house in the world, which he has proudly named Tumbleweed. Jay is an artist and architect and lives in his home near San Francisco. He sells plans and builds tiny homes in sizes ranging from an extremely small 50 square feet to a practically roomy 500 square feet. Jay has been living in a house smaller than some people's closets since 1997. Jay's decision to inhabit just 96 square feet arose from his concerns he had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because he does not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space.