Big interest in tiny house movement

Melissa Cox was on a panel of four speaking about the tiny house movement. Alongside are Andrew Martin, Tessa Mackenzie and Leo Murray.

Tiny houses have sparked a lot of interest in Katikati with a full house, despite the wet weather, at Rethink Project's second film night last week looking at solutions for affordable housing.

About 200 people went to St Paul's Presbyterian Church hall to see four short films on community, affordable housing, simple living and tiny houses and hear panellists - host, Andrew Martin, Melissa Cox, Tessa Mackenzie and Leo Murray.

The group covered a range of topics from the Global Financial Crisis, housing market crisis, New Zealand's rising gross external debt, container dwellings and the need to look at more affordable and sustainable living.

Leo Murray who is in the process of building a tiny house at Te Puna, shared his journey so far and the experiences and people he and his wife have met.

Andrew, who works with councils and other organisations throughout NZ and Australia helping build resilience, said tiny houses are quite popular, "but I was pretty surprised with the turnout".

The amazing turnout showed that there is such a desire, among all ages, said attendee Christine Donehue.

"NZ needs to rethink housing. Many of us would like to live more simply. The rules and regulations holding up progress towards different lifestyles need to be looked at, and we all need to have our say. Councils need to start listening."

In Katikati so many new homes being built are huge, way beyond what a single person or couple really needs, she said.

She said it was disappointing to hear that the Tauranga City Council is taking more notice of the tiny homes campaigners than our own Western Bay council.

"If it can give consent to retirement villages, cramming people into apartments and small homes, why can't young people be catered for as well?"

Jenny Hobbs said the short films showed how it was possible to build a tiny home for a fraction of the cost of a 'normal house' and that living in a tiny home provided opportunities for people to feel a greater connection to the natural world, by utilising the outdoor space for more time each day.

"The tiny homes conversation is a very important one to have. It is clear that the fast upward movement in the New Zealand housing market in recent years has left many New Zealanders behind, and young families are most affected, with many now unable to imagine how they would ever own their own home with rent costs through the roof and wages not keeping up."

When looking at changing the District Plan to accommodate the tiny house movement it will be very important to make sure everyone's needs are considered, and tiny house projects can happen, but don't impact negatively on other property owners, Mrs Hobbs said.

"I would like to see a change in the planning rules to identify places where tiny homes projects can go ahead on rural land and reduction in the development contributions to recognise the small footprint and social benefits to the community."

Anne Henry felt tiny homes would have benefits to both the homeless and the small rural land owners if they were to be developed on small rural blocks.

"This option could be explored first as there doesn't appear to be any affordable or much non-covenanted residential land available."

The next film night will be on The Future of Food. Keep an eye on the Advertiser for more details soon.