Tiny House Association welcomes some progress on policy

THE Australian Tiny House Association (ATHA) has welcomed the Surf Coast Shire making some progress on allowing tiny homes, but says it is a long time coming and would be longer still before any policy is enacted.

The shire is reviewing Community Amenity Local Law 2021 on several issues, including tiny homes on wheels (THOWs), and councillors resolved last week to take steps towards setting up a two-year trial of THOWs across the municipality, including setting up a project team early next year.

ATHA advocates for living in tiny houses to be made legal across the nation, and ATHA president Janine Strachan said the movement towards THOWs becoming part of the shire’s Local Laws had been belated.

“We presented to council in April nearly two years ago on this exact issue, we provided them with a tiny house Local Law template, and they all supported it, and it’s taken that long to get through to even reviewing material, and still we don’t have an actual policy to comment on because we don’t know what it looks like.

“We were hoping for a longer trial period than two years, but at least two years is better than nothing.

“We want to be able to demonstrate that living in this type of housing structure is not a gamechanger; rather, it provides people with so many opportunities to not only reduce their environmental footprint but also provide housing over their head in areas either where they’re working or where they choose to live.

“We’ve been waiting in this one all of this year, and we have been advised it’s still going to take a few months to get someone into a position where they can develop it further and for it to be released.

“In saying that, we are delighted that the shire has shown leadership in this area.”

She said ATHA hoped the shire’s eventual policy would lead other councils to see THOWs as a solution to the housing crisis being experienced across Australia, not a source of short-stay accommodation.

“We already have a couple of shires within Victoria that allow people to live in a caravan permanently, but these are not caravans, these are tiny houses; they just happen to be on wheels.

“What this policy is not for is supporting the accommodation side, because that’s already allowed.

“Guests can stay in tiny houses or any short-stay accommodation for 365 days of the year – they might not be the same guests, it could be three different people – but you’re not allowed to have one or two people staying in that same accommodation 365 days of the year? It’s so inequitable.”

Ms Strachan said THOWs should not be considered the same as caravans, as THOWs were designed for permanent occupation, built with residential-grade products, and could be either on-grid or off-grid.

She said ATHA also wanted people living in tiny houses “to be part of society and to be seen as part of society”, by, for example, managing their waste and living away from boundary fences.