2021-12-13 GC Agenda - Item 8 -Attachment 1 - Housing Needs Assessment

12. Alternative Housing
AHURI has published papers that look at different forms of affordable or special needs housing,
including but not limited to social housing. In 201351 they specifically explored marginal rental
housing, which took in various forms of “shared facility accommodation” which is typically highly
managed or controlled, as well as manufactured homes in a residential park.
In recent years there has been much interest in Tiny Homes and for some people this offers them
the best chance of having a comfortable secure home in which they can have flexibility and
independence. There is no definitive rule about the size of a tiny home, however they are generally
between 35 and 45 square metres. There are companies which offer a range of prefabricated tiny
homes or you can have one tailor made. The biggest area of distinction is whether they are fixed
permanently on a site or on wheels as this impacts how they are regulated and where they can
locate.
A tiny house that is on wheels and registered52 as a caravan or trailer is generally treated like any
caravan or RV. It must be parked lawfully on private property and cannot be connected to reticulated
town water and sewer without a plumbing permit. Systems are available for off-grid electricity,
composting toilets, water collection, filtration and storage, grey water reuse and grease traps
however tiny homes cannot be used as a permanent home without meeting planning, building and
plumbing requirements. Under planning requirements tiny homes (including caravans and the like)
cannot be leased to short-term or semi-permanent guests.
From time to time the managers of some caravan parks in Noosa Shire allow people to live longer
term. Currently this is allowed at Pomona Caravan Park at the showgrounds and has previously
been allowed at Camp Cooroora at Lake MacDonald.
Noosa Council owns three caravan parks, at Noosa North Shore, Boreen Point and Noosaville. No
permanent residents are allowed at any of these, although people can stay for up to 3 months.
A tiny home established (fixed) in the yard of a property that already contains a house might qualify
as a secondary dwelling provided it is occupied by a member or members of the same household. If
so, it needs to comply with Noosa Plan 2020 requirements for a secondary dwelling and an
infrastructure charge notice will be issued upon building and plumbing approval.
Given the high proportion of one or two person households, the establishment of tiny homes has, in
principle, many benefits. They offer a smaller footprint in terms of efficiency of land use, construction
cost, ongoing heating/cooling and lighting cost, and depending on where they are located, there may
be other social benefits.
The Australian Local Government Association has suggested the two main hurdles for the take up
of tiny homes is lack of a coherent regulatory and policy frameworks and a need to build community
support.53
While there is information on tiny homes within the explanatory material on the website, Noosa
Council could take a proactive approach to clarifying information. It is suggested a specific fact sheet
or user guide, like those produced by Cairns Regional Council, Sunshine Coast Regional Council or
Scenic Rim regional Council would be of assistance.
The collection of more than one tiny home on the one property requires planning approval for a
material change of use to a relocatable home park or a multiple dwelling.




51 Goodman, R., Nelson, A., Dalton, T., Cigdem, M., Gabriel, M. and Jacobs, K. (2013) AHURI Final Report

No.210: The experience of marginal rental housing in Australia, Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban
Research Institute.
52 When registering the vehicle you must provide evidence of the vehicle’s Queensland address.
53 Liz de Chastel (2018) Australian local government association – perspective on tiny houses, Australian

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Noosa Housing Needs Assessment 2021                                                            Page 100