Tamborine Mountain faces the dual problem of an ageing population with few alternatives if they are wanting to downsize and, like the rest of the country, a housing shortage.
Griffith University researcher at the School of Engineering and Built Environment Dr Heather Shearer believed both issues could be considerably ameliorated through more tiny homes as well as allowing subdivision of larger lots.
Dr Shearer has been researching aspects of planning and the socioeconomic issues of tiny homes since 2014.
“The main reason people are looking at them has stayed the same and that’s housing affordability,” she said.
“It tends to be younger couples living on their parent’s property and older singles.”
She said Scenic Rim Regional Council was quite proactive in terms of accommodating tiny homes with a code in place, unlike most councils.
“Councils don’t know what to do with them,” she said, adding she’d like the see the State government establish stronger regulations for councils to be able to follow.
“They don’t comply with building codes as permanent dwellings so they can be used as short term rentals with council approval.
And she said because they fall in a grey area legally it’s hard to find out how many there are.
However, tiny homes only offer part of the solution as they are not cheap, you cannot get a mortgage on them, and some councils treat them the same as caravans refusing to let people in live in them.
Dr Shearer said with the number of large lots, often owned by elderly, relaxing restrictions on subdivision made more sense than building two large, unpopular retirement villages.
“We have a terrible housing crisis, and Tamborine Mountain is particularly bad. We have huge lots with a lot of elderly people living in them and they don’t have anywhere to go if they want to downsize,” she said.
“A lot of people don’t want to go to a retirement home. I’d rather see Tamborine Mountain become like the rest of the Scenic Rim, rather than a special area that you can’t do anything to, rather than two giant retirement resorts.”
“Low density residential zones should be treated the same as the rest of the Scenic Rim; this would make the most difference to housing affordability on Tamborine Mountain.
Currently Tamborine Mountain residential is zoned rural and bans any subdivision or dual living and the minimum lot size is 100 hectares.
She said she was not proposing tiny lots as Councillor Amanda Hay had complained about at Yarrabilba, but more a quarter of an acre size.
“Adding more dwellings to existing lots with fewer new houses than what is planned for the two retirement villages would allow more younger people to stay on the mountain as well as the elderly who would love to stay here.”
“The two retirement villages will increase the population significantly in relation to the existing population. If people were allowed to do minor subdivision of bigger lots, you could open up extra properties to more families.
“We already have limited services for older people. It is a good idea to diversify the population rather than bring in more older people.”
However, Councillor Amanda Hay was adamant neither tiny homes nor allowing subdivision was an answer and said the planning restrictions were put in place to limit population on the mountain.
“I am not in favour of any further subdivision on the mountain,” she stated. “It is not a cash cow for developers. It is primarily a residential area which has some tourism.”
“Everyone forgets we don’t have town water or sewerage, and every water or sceptic system has the potential to impact ground water quality,” Cr Hay said.
“It’s not he mountains’ responsibility to solve the housing crisis.
“If we want to solve the crisis, we could take the 250 plus Airbnb’s plus a lot more that don’t advertise and turn them into residential dwellings.”
Cr Hay also said even quarter of an acre lots was not acceptable option on Tamborine Mountain.
She said she didn’t believe the mountain was the place for tiny homes either, with most being rented out as Airbnb’s too.
“I have asked council to impose a condition that the second dwelling cannot be used for short term accommodation and council have begun to make that amendment,” she said.
