Tiny houses

 

When we came to Australia some fifteen years ago, one of the things my wife and I started doing was to go camping, as in Malta this pastime was not practically possible, with several from those few who did practice it probably did so illegally, or irregularly, as this activity in places like Armier was known not to be permitted.  Today I understand that the situation has changed for the better.

 

In Australia today we look for the many forests and national parks the country has, but initially we used to stay at commercial camp sites.  Slowly, in some of the latter, we had started to notice that not all residents of these campsites were there temporarily on holiday.  We discovered that generally the place wouldhave asection reserved for those living there permanently.

 

These people generally used to stay in a cabin or caravan whose wheels had been removed, and raised upon bricks or some other permanent structure.  You would often find there to be a small piece of land where some greens were grown, or some animals like chickens or rabbits, which indicated that the residents were not tourists.

 

We realised that this was the way of life for a substantial number of Australians, for some probably their chosen way of life, for others it was perhaps the only type of residence their finances would permit.

 

Today, the popularity of so-called tiny houses is increasing, with a diversity of enterprises offering a number of models, with a variety of styles, sizes, comfort levels etc including air conditioning with price ranges reaching and surpassing a hundred thousand dollars.  Needless to say, these prices aren’t for those on a limited budget.  For these other models are available costing around ten to twenty thousand dollars.

 

There are organisations that are taking the opportunity offered by these type of tiny houses to provide subsidised housing for those not having any, such as the Tiny Homes Foundation of Gosford, in NSW.1

 

There are two principal types of tiny houses, which are those limited in size generally up to 37m2 (some councils permit bigger ones) and having the character and functionality of a permanent home.  Firstly there are those which are built on a wheel base, these would generally be considered to be caravans.  Although all local councils have their own regulations, generally one would be able to place this type of tiny house inside a private property which already houses people without the need to as for council permission.  If the property is empty, there might be some limitations.

 

Secondly, there are those tiny houses without wheels and which would be fixed permanently to the ground.  One would expect these to have permission to be built similar to the traditional development of a property.  For those interested, one would need to research well the council of the desired living area.

 

The movement towards this type of house had some significant events.  In the forties of last century, there was a lack of housing due to the second world war which was alleviated by pre-fabricated houses of 64m2.  More recently, in 2005, the disaster resulting from Hurricane Katrina in the United States led to the development of a tiny house called Katrina Cottage of 28.5m2 to make up for the lack of accommodation in New Orleans and surrounds.

 

There was also the publication of the influential book ‘The Not So Big House’ in 1998 by architect Sarah Susanka that was intended to stop the tendency of residential architecture to always increase in size, by arguing that small hosues have environmental benefits.2

 

Interest in this area is increasing and one would do well to follow developments.

1https://www.tinyhomesfoundation.org.au/, retrieved 14/4/2021

2https://www.qshelter.asn.au/elements/2017/06/Tiny-House-Planning-Resource.pdf, retrieved 14/4/2021