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Australian local government association – perspective on tiny houses

Historically, many of the inner suburbs in our metropolitan cities and towns were developed with small housing footprints such as terrace housing and smaller lots, and similar sized lots are now increasingly available in greenfield developments. Tiny houses are not a new phenomenon in the development of our cities and regions but one that now challenges our perception of what a ‘house’ should look like. Tiny houses have had success internationally and allow affordable living in a small space. They can provide a home for some of the most vulnerable people in the community; for example, single older women trapped in the rental cycle and young people locked out of home ownership. However, tiny houses, especially tiny houses on wheels, can come with challenges for Councils and owners such as financing, definitions, safety, planning and building code compliance and negative community perception. The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) believes that the lack of affordable housing and increasing rate of homelessness is having significant social and economic impacts in our cities and regions (ALGA 2018). This is evidenced in the findings and recommendations of a plethora of research reports and inquiries on housing such as the Senate Select Committee on Housing Affordability (2008). We are challenged to explore innovative solutions to address this problem and Tiny Houses offer one component in a housing toolkit. Tiny houses will not address the housing affordability challenge on their own. Other ways of developing affordable housing such as group housing, boarding houses, build to rent models and prefab buildings can all contribute to addressing the problem. Every local government has to consider what is workable in their communities. Given all these positives, why is it so hard to build and develop tiny houses? There are likely two main areas that need to be addressed: (1) Development of a coherent regulatory and policy framework; and (2) Building community support.