He said less than $400.00 A WEEK? $1,720.00 per month for rent? Sorry, that’s outrageous. It’s even more outrageous that this lady has put $40,000 into an 8x10 box with no bathroom facilities. Society is regressing so quickly, we’ll be back in the dark ages before you can say Jack Robinson.

I view the tiny house movement as a symptom of the disappearance of the middle class.

This is my young family. We have a tiny transportable dwelling on our own property. The council said they will demolish it and fine us if we don't remove it, but where will we go? There are no rentals and we can't get finance for a builder right now. I'm due to give birth soon. There's too much red tape in this country. Houses are HOMES not INVESTMENTS.

I'm not australian and I can tell you this a global crisis. Rent has gone up astronomical as well as lot prices. Bulding materials. Owning a house for most people is nearly impossible. Renting, when possible, means not being able to save. The rich get richer and middle and lower class get poorer. Can't count the number of nights I've spent awake worrying about my future.

Affordable housing is a worldwide problem. It needs to be addressed quickly before everyone is homeless and living on the streets

I have no problem with some form of rules regarding tiny homes but why hit those with limited resources to pay for permits to live on land that the owner already pays council rates on ? Government at all levels have slowly got out of control and it’s time people pushed back

The guy saying they could burn in a fire , wouldn't a normal house burn also , same with the flood idea , the difference is a tiny house has wheels and can be moved if there is a chance of fire or flood, can't do that with a normal house.

Here in America, we're pricing people out of housing, and the government is trying to criminalize homelessness on top of it. It's disgusting.

Imagine if governments actually helped people instead of helping themselves and their mates to people's wealth.

It's gross that state governments and local councils make ridiculous rules that make it very hard to have tiny homes in aus.

Do Australians really rent by the week? My god, the cheapest rental is A$ 400 PER WEEK? How can pensioners afford to rent? This woman works full time & can’t afford to rent. I’m shocked by the problem in Australia.

20+ years off grid in a 200 sqft cabin I built for $2,000. I have more room than I need and perfect for me and the 2 dogs. No house payments, no utility bills and freedom!

As someone who lives in a tiny house made of wood in Gippsland I disagree with the assertion that my home will just burn or be flooded. I have the option of moving my tiny house if the river floods, every other home on the river flat is vulnerable.

Housing problem is all over the world, no one talks about the real problem, investement funds are manipulating the housing market.

Criminal that in such a big country with not a huge population people have to leave in a box or homeless!!

$514 for a home pemit for 18 months? How can this make sense. These people just keep squeezing money out of people who already don't have money. Its like taking human rights away.

I live in a tiny house and believe me, it's NOT glamorous. NOT AT ALL. No bathroom, no real kitchen. Yes, I have electricity, HVAC, fridge and a microwave. A tiny porch. There's absolutely no built-in storage space. It is NOT on wheels, it was once a derelict pool house. The floor is unlevel. It does have a glass lanai that's about 5'x7' attached to a larger room that's about 8'x19'. I'd be homeless without my tiny house so I'm thankful. But think very carefully because it's not for everyone. 💙💙

My favorite thing about tiny homes is how they're already skyrocketing in price because they're trendy.

I live in the USA so I had to do math to compare your weekly rent with our monthly rent. I saved up and just got into a good deal for a small single bedroom apartment and I am paying 47% of my take home pay on rent. It's a much better area than my last slum room was in but I still drive past tent encampments on my way to work. My plan to escape the escalatingly bad situation in our cities is to spend every spare penny over the next 5 years to buy a van and convert it so me and my cat could live out of it when I file for early retirement at 62 (while working remote and/or seasonal jobs). The lack of housing and the billionaires and mega corporations sucking the wealth out of the working class isn't just in Australia, it's happening everywhere.

Blessings to these women doing all they can to provide for their children. Good job, moms!

AMERICA: I was one of 200 disabled single seniors without family who were pushed out of our rentals so the owner could double and triple the rent. I tried EVERYTHING but at age 63 I spent 3 seasons living on the street in my wheelchair. I eventually moved into a newly built complex owned by a slumlord and in 5 short years it is a ghetto in every way. I'll be moving again just before my 69th b-day into another new build owned by the same slumlord AND the group that made me homeless, there are no other options. In moving it will be at least back to my old quiet neighborhood and I'll have no bars blasting thumping bass into my home 4 to 7 days every single week. And who was it that threw out 200 disabled seniors who had nowhere to go? The state I live in owns and property manages the rentals...beyond sad and straight to evil! To be honest I'm tired of living and spend my days isolated with depression; there is no chance of better and I'm done living with false hope.😢

Any house no matter the size can catch on fire with a few sparks and flood easily (depending on where they are). Tiny houses are an affordable option for many people but it is local governments like the Sunshine Coast Council that are short-sighted and are failing to see that. As someone who lives on the Sunshine Coast, the council here is more interested in their own pet projects (e.g. the new council palace/building in Maroochydore) than solving the housing problem here.

Disgusting that council claims right to what people do on their own land .

I downsized to 909 sq. Ft from 2180 sq ft. Glad I did because everything has quadrupled. No yard to do in 105 plus degree heat in Arizona. Miss my home, my yard with pool. I’m blessed. I feel everyone’s pain. I’m 74 and work 12 hours a week just to eat. Groceries are ridiculous.

They call it tiny houses, in the Philippines, we just call it a house. These are even luxury houses complete with amenities only many Filipinos can dream of.

The first woman had $40,000 and a job, if that is not enough to even get a mortgage for a 1 bedroom then we are all screwed over. Second lady didn't tell the cost of her home, and I bet it wasn't cheap, went over the $100,000 marker.

Rich get richer the rest of us get to live in dog boxes called tiny homes.

It is just disgusting that we have this housing crisis in Australia. We have so much empty land here. So much for the “lucky” country. 😢

These "councils" don't seem to have to have much empathy for those families hanging on by a thread. They lack vision and problem solving skills. They only are interested in collecting permit and fine monies. Pathetic.

I lived in an RV for a year after getting divorced and selling my beautiful house. It was a transformative experience, and I traveled to Florida for the winter before it went nuts. It was considerably bigger than these tiny homes, and I was mobile.

In the U.S. there's millions of vacancies, and rentals are astronomical. Most local governments ban tiny homes. But you can have a tent or sidewalk. Or live in vehicles. Harassment of homeless is rampant. So we have millions of homeless, and millions of those fall into despair and addiction. This sounds a lot better than whats here. Be thankful.

In my council, they want a building approval for a canvas tent on a platform! Why? Because they deem it to be a “permanent structure”. The madness continues.

A million Airbnb's there lies your problem with no accommodation....... in Australia...........and else where...who is making the big money......

This is what happens when people and corporations are using housing as investment instead of a basic right.

Fire and floods. Tiny homes on wheels can move. Fixed dwellings cannot.

I live in a yurt, 20' diameter with a wood stove. No running water but a tap is close by. I have jugs. I produce my own electricity with a portable solar system. I have a two burner stove. Toilet is composting bucket system outside. I have a shed for a workshop and a garden. I do my own trash service. Outdoor shower and bath tub. Jocoola hot water system. Been living this way for 5 years. Storage of your stuff and keeping organized is a bit challenging. I have scaled way down from a regular house. Total cost? About $20K. My rent is 0 because I work on the land for exchange. Wish that towns and cities would offer land and tap water and a compound setting for safety and a training program of how to live this way. Its good living and folks can save money if managed correctly. Yurts can be taken apart and moved.

It’s pathetic that affluent countries don’t have available and affordable housing.

In America, zoning is often the main stumbling block for plopping down tiny homes. Zoning for most homes are designated as "single family" homes, which forbids tiny homes, mobile homes or other small structures for living space. Some people have "garden sheds" or "workshops" that are stealthily converted to living space for family or others, on the sly. But this leaves the homeowner open to fines, inspections and intrusions into the property. Some people are "forced" to make the necessary changes to appease the city, then when the dust settles, they go back to renting out the space. If neighbors do not complain, the city doesn't usually come snooping around, but when they do it can be very upsetting, especially if no one else is being affected. If zoning were changed to allow homeowners to have a tiny house or RV on the property for living purposes, many homeless would have a safe place to be, at least temporarily. Additionally, the homeowner may benefit from some rent coming in to help with the mortgage.

As a tiny home dweller with a family of 3 in Texas, I can say there are definitely many challenges, hurdles, and mountains to climb. After nearly 7 years, Im ready to move out for something more durable. However, our purchaseable land prices have sky rocketed. 1 acre in the area used to be 10k-15k usd. Now, it ranges from 80k-100k per acre! Astronomical!

Tiny homes were inexpensive before they became popular. Built by the owner with min materials. With popularity came the ever increasing standards and of course professionally built. Now almost the same cost as a standard house because cramming all the features into a tiny space is more expensive. Same thing happened with van conversions in the 1970's and shipping containers. Yeah used shipping containers were cheap when they were heading to the scrapyard, but expensive once a line of people formed to buy them. Today a container structure has a premium cost just to have the hip factor. Same for tiny houses. Kind of amazing to me that most people don't realize the cost of a "house" isn't most the "house", it's the land the house sit on...or water it floats on. The structure is a commodity. What zooms up in value is the land when talking about popular areas. Plenty of super cheap, almost free land, but no one wants to live there.

Councils should have no say in what happens on private land. Disgusting.

I watch this with a sense of hopelessness. The old barns and studios, the extra storage and run down homes we could use to build businesses and projects in have been plundered. Governments and developers love these things because they can stick more of them on a block and get more government subsidy. It is the ruin of our quality of life

In the US there's a huge housing crisis. Currently our little town is get bought up by investors who want to flip the buildings.. jack the rent way up. I live in an unfinished shead I paid for and someone let me put it on their property. I have no running water. If I didn't have this I would be living out of my car. The office I work out of sold and he is going to raise the rent "considerably " and cut our space in half. But so far there's no place else to go. Things have to change.

I live in a flat in the UK and it is frustrating because of the lack of space - trying to keep it clean and tidy is a constant struggle, especially in winter because because I can't seem to tidy up - just move stuff around, but we at least have a separate bedroom, toilet and showering facilities and a small kitchen with space for a proper cooker, a washing machine and fridge freezer. We also have a bit of a garden, too. This lady must be really stressed living like that because I know that I'm stressed, living in the home that I have. It's not a home, it's a garden shed.

"You will own nothing and you will be happy"

I've seen this movement of praising tiny home living and videos of people being 'creative' with miniscule apartments - But the truth is, it's a sad reflection on society when people are forced to live in a little box.

People are evacuated from their homes due to bushfire/ flood threat. Tiny homes dwellers can be evacuated in their tiny home. Ok, They can't move themselves but a tractor or truck can move them. Part of your evacuation plan would include access to tractor or truck. If a tiny home burns, the cost to rebuild is less than a large home which can burn just as easily.

In a nutshell, the know-how to rapidly construct comfortable, dignified, affordable homes exists right now. But OF COURSE no level of government will budge in the slightest to make this more easily accessible because house prices. When Jason Clare (ALP) was the shadow housing minister he said "I don't think anyone is proposing to cut the price of housing" when asked about how to make housing more affordable. Way too many vested interests stacked in favour of keeping hyper-inflated prices and basically everyone who isn't on the ladder or the gravy train can go to hell. Australia, 2023.

Somewhat taken aback by the town planner's concern about the impact of bush fires or floods on Tiny Houses. Not only can they be moved ahead of time if conditions look dangerous, but at the worse, less is lost compared to traditional homes. Hopefully, Council planners across Australia will eventually look to the success of planned Tiny House communities in the USA, where landowners provide plumbing and power to small lots, in addition to common community facilites such as laundry, cooking and social spaces.

Bit rude that councils want to slap a tax on the most disadvantaged people!

We are humans. The planet is vast and abundant. We shouldn’t have to pay to have our human needs met. Makes no sense when the planet is the provider. So yes to people getting paid to do the work. No to massive profits off peoples backs. There’s no reason why a single mom, single dad, or family should struggle when the world with so many billionaires.

No matter what country you live in, local government always steps in and regulates people out of coming up with affordable solutions to combat being homeless. And if you become homeless you are then truly screwed

One of the problems I noticed here in the UK years ago is that there's always somebody willing to pay far too much to buy a house or flat they desperately want. It's often motivated by snobbery and wanting to live in a so-called good area. There's always an idiot willing to pay a ridiculous amount. Also, if absolutely nobody (and I include companies in that) was willing to pay £5,000 a week to rent a small flat, then prices would start to drop.

Tiny houses aren't much smaller than old miners cottages that are considered full size houses and don't get me started on the 25m squared apartments that have one small room and a kitchenette that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Since governments have ignored affordable housing infrastructure then they need to take their heads out of their bums and be creative, compassionate and definitely committed to helping the homeless men, women and children acquire safe , warm homes! However big or tiny these dwellings may be!

I thought I would be 2 years into buying a house . Man I was so so wrong I now know I probably will never own my own home . It’s hard to even go to work when everything seems so hopeless .. my heart breaks for these women who the only plus I can think about is that their kids and enjoy a lot of land to run around . My rent is ridiculous I don’t have a backyard my front yard is a driveway . And recently the beautiful house next to me got demolished and turned into 16 two story units .. so I have those then got houses either side of me then the back of the house backs of to 3 places .. i feel so boxed in .. honestly thinking my future might be brighter in another country. I couldn’t imagine having to spend 40 grand on a 4x2 metre box no toilet . 😢😮 Seen a video last night the project is calling it Generation rent …. How sad is that . My pop actually owns lots of land his not allowed to have houses on there but recently they have built so many houses around him they are practically on his front door and to make it worse his rates keep going on it was at 11 grand the last night I asked him at Xmas time . My opinion someone wants his land …

Fires, floods and storms happen to regular houses too. I consider a tiny house like a small stand alone apartment

if there is a fire you lose your home...umm wouldn't that happen with a permanent house to? at least these could be moved if they own a truck

I grew up in a shed. I now photograph homes for a living and I'm regularly in multi-million dollar homes and that shed is still easily my favourite place on Earth and I would gladly live in something like that and I'm more than happy with less and simple. We also did caravan living for a tougher period in the 90's and we handled it just fine I would be living in a tiny home/caravan style home if not for the question marks over the obscene regulations on them. It may have made sense once but the BS regs need to go. It's quite clear the government doesn't care to do anything about it aside from jam on the accelerator and ship in 700,000 new people to house. They will do anything except let house prices fall because it's the ponzi our economy is predicated on. They could do a lot to alleviate it but are completely silent on it.

Just to be mean : how many rooms do the houses of the superrich have? Every single house ? When will we see what is happening around the world ? And stand up , united , to fight this ?

The word COUNCIL seems to figure prominently, as a barrier to homeless people trying to make necessary changes to how and where they live!😔

You're doing a great job momma ..don't feel bad ..you're doing it ..for you daughter and pups

The government can do something but it chooses not to , very sad that such a huge problem is swept under the carpet

People should be able to do whatever they want on their land. Government wants too much control. People need help and all the those at the top just want money.

Thanks for shining a light on affordable housing options!

I own my block of land and still aren’t allowed to put a tiny on it. I keep getting told I can apply for a temporary dwelling for 12 months only while my REAL house is built. So I guess I’ll build a shed and live in that, hoping they won’t notice.

A TINY home is not the problem. You need land to put it somewhere.

There is a home crisis but politicians refuse to utility different options like tiny homes because there is no money in it for them

It's about time the authorities woke up to the plight of good ordinary people. Tiny homes are becoming the rescue raft of growing numbers of Australians, so the stressful rulings need to be revised/relaxed to accommodate the growing demand. In fact, get rid of the mandatory mobile ruling, so tiny homes can be more affordable. To most families, it's their home, not an adventure project. Sure, monitor/ensure sanitation levels of land used for tiny homes, but most use composting toilets, which use zero water which eases the burden on our existing sewage infrastructure. A huge advantage of tiny communities is the united bond to make them succeed & mingle. Something that needs to be improved in our extended/demanding working hours. Overseas they have classes where students or potential owners build tiny homes & learn trade skills. The barrier, of course, are the revenue-hungry councils that need to keep the money flowing in their direction.

You'll own nothing and you'll be happy.............. Don't forget their plan.

I live in a tiny condo room at 370 sqft but the floor plan is perfect. I have a small kitchen, a jacuzzi tub, a tiny living room corner and a function bedroom. Let alone a big balcony that can store the picnic stove to the mountain view. If people build the tiny house with an apartment floor plan in mind your life will be easier.

Bush Fires are now more common then ever... saying that, trim the trees back, cut the area around your home short and several meters away from the home. Get a separate large water storage tank, Gas power water pump, hook up to 2-3 water sprinklers on the roof ... also during a dry spell, water the lawn and trees near you home at night. Several years ago when the fires hit Canberra, my buddy put a lawn chair on his roof, had a gas powered water pump drawing water out of his swimming pool and wearing a spray painter's mask kept hosing down his house and gutters... the fire passed and he was fine. Life can be much more simple than some people think.

For people in North America: the mentioned rent prices are per week.

The government needs to buy up parcels of land, add the hookups then allow people to -- at bare minimum -- rent a spot for their tiny homes, akin to a caravan park but with the added security of being owned by the government, thus their spots won't be sold underneath them, which private entities can do with relatively little warning. After all, tiny homes are often no less of a home to people. They just need the security of being able to place it somewhere.

Council needs to stop being a hindrance to people and start being part of the solution. There are also lots of people living long term in holiday parks. It would make far more sense to intentionally design tiny house villages to meet occupants needs.

I love that there is a "housing crisis" and it's the country's #1 issue. I live in my car, and happily park outside Macca's or the Servo, or a park somewhere and convert my car into a backseat bed. Doing that for 15 months now, saved $15,000 and have no idea what to do with the money. Maybe I'll just keep going!

400 a week?? Jeez 15 years ago you could get a large studio in downtown Denver for 400 a month. It's obnoxious

Tiny houses are a practical solution , rather than homeless like in USA . Councils need to help people

Ridiculous comment about bushfire and floods in regards to tiny homes. All those other 'normal' houses also burn down and get flooded!!!

council prohibits it in WA. it could deflate house prices and rent, so no way.

This is going to be the norm in the future

Rent prices are just soaring all over the world in a crazy way, making it increasingly impossible for normal people to put a roof on their head, and nothing is done to stop or control that.

I totally get insurance issues with an un approved property but it's pretty cruel to make people have to get approval for a mobile home considering the alternative is homelessness. What a total joke. Who gives a shit if you have a cabin or whatever built on a block of land away from the metro area. Your not even allowed to live in a caravan on a block of land. WTF! Why?

I had a 2000 sqm block with tiny home off grid electrical and water but it got washed away in the January 2022 floods, I applied to the Queensland resilient homes buyback scheme for assistance however it seems very unlikely I will receive any after nearly a year and half of being homeless and destitute primarily because the authorities don't class them as real houses you are very much on your own in a tiny home.

I lived on sailboats for twenty five years after being a student living in a VW bus, tiny homes are luxurious to me. At least you don’t sink and drown when they spring a plank.

Someone should point out to the governments that by not making any real effort to address the growing housing crisis they are effectively accountable for going against the Geneva Convention. "International human rights law recognizes everyone’s right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing. Adequate housing was recognized as part of the right to an adequate standard of living in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Other international human rights treaties have since recognized or referred to the right to adequate housing or some elements of it, such as the protection of one’s home and privacy."

The ALP once promised to set rent at no more than a third of weekly income. That's never been honoured.

This breaks my heart. I live on Long Island, which is approximately 55 miles out of New York City’s metropolitan area. The rental crisis is similar here. I am married, and we were lucky enough to buy into the housing market when it was somewhat affordable. The rental market here has shifted it’s focus to luxury 55 plus communities that run upwards of 3 grand a month. The state is trying to plan affordable rental communities, but they are few and far between. I am losing hope that things will ever get better for our working class.

we are 2 people in a 500 Sq ft apartment and it feels like we are on top of each other constantly, couldn't imagine a tiny home 😭

It's almost as if local councils are covertly influenced 💲 by the rental market to resist lower cost alternatives. I can understand about tiny homes that are little more than shacks, but modern design tiny homes are far better built.

Same housing crisis in New Zealand 🇳🇿 Rent is outrageous! More and more people living in cars, sleeping rough, Caravans etc. And wages can't cover rent, food, fuel etc. I have been living in a tiny Caravan for 2 years..no way will I ever afford to rent again. Let alone purchase. It's tough..but it could be worse. Especially when families in Auckland live in their cars..with their kids, and their Parents are working full-time!!

You need a permit to live...WTF is wrong with OZ?

Noooo! I refuse to believe this! A tiny home has always been my dream. Just me, myself and I. 😢😢

Well my personal story is being born in a ghetto (Flemingdon park Toronto) but then growing up in rural Ontario we were still poor but my parents could fix up an old farmhouse even as working class people and I had ten acres in the backyard and a fort my Dad built me as a "playhouse" now people pay 100 grand to live in the fort size place you used to get 10 whole acres and an old farmhouse for in the 80s, it is dystopian. Look at the closet/cage homes China has though is that next?

Even this sort of stuff is becoming so difficult in Scotland. Councils, the Benefits Agency, Inland Revenue etc make it very difficult to live in a field and rent land if you're on a low income, and of course landowners don't always want it. I even asked a local holiday home site about a permanent pitch, and encountered ' you have to move out for 'x' number of weeks' yet. Yet renting is SO expensive and social housing so hard to come by. There's a trend for doing the van living thing just now but of course you have to be able to buy and restore a van, and have a friend or family willing to let you use their address, and work that can be done from home. The selling of council housing in the eighties has been devestating.

With housing crisis in US, Australia and England...tiny home approval need to be fast tracked.

I lived in a rv for about 5 years. Started a family and everything. Greatest times of my life. Almost nothing in bills, and i was free. Bought a house tho........

Councils have one priority regardless of anything they have to say - REVENUE. Everything else is secondary. You need an advocate who gets the issues with the market and the possibilities of writing relevant policy for the future of all types of housing. Tiny houses may be a preference for some but they will be the only answer for many under the current circumstances and what the foreseeable future is suggesting. Once again state and federal governments, same priorities also needing an understanding of innovating with people as they try to manage a crisis governments have failed to manage and resolve, and according to anything the government has said recently, they can't resolve it anytime soon.

Hard to find a decent spot to legally put a tiny home on

They should be looking at awarding rural land owners who have multiple tiny homes on their property a "temporary" community permit as long as the conditions are deemed safe and there are only a certain number of tiny homes per m2 ect. As far as fire and floods, well, how do you insure a caravan or motorhome? The second tiny home seems more insurable than the first one so there would have to be rules that deem it a tiny home like if it inckudes a bathroom and is habitable in that regard. Its horifying that no one wants to stop people from slipping through the cracks because council have all of these rules and they cant remember they work for the people and can help society when somerhing needs to be done.