To the tens of thousands of Australians who call them home, tiny houses on wheels are the solution to the nation's housing crisis, but the industry says it's being hobbled by red tape.
The miniature, self-contained homes — which are built on a trailer and can be towed behind a car — have experienced an explosion in popularity in recent years.
Regulators are struggling to keep up.
Tiny homes currently exist in a regulatory grey area between caravans and granny flats.
They are exempt from the building code, but local laws limit the amount of time you are allowed to live in one, without moving, to 30 days.
Rules vary between councils, but only two local governments — Esperance in Western Australia and the Surf Coast Shire in Victoria — have approved them as a permanent place of residence.
In New South Wales, a two-year moratorium on moveable dwellings is currently in place for people displaced by natural disaster or the COVID-19 pandemic.
A 'disruptive' concept
The Australian Tiny House Association, a volunteer-run not-for-profit dedicated to bringing tiny homes into the mainstream, has been lobbying governments to approve them as suitable to live in long-term.
The association's vice president, Brisbane architect John Cameron, wants a national roundtable to discuss "sensible" regulations that are consistent nationwide.
"Like any emerging idea, it's disruptive and our legislative framework has not anticipated it," he said.
"The problem is all of the 556 local government areas around Australia have unique views on what a tiny house is.
"These dwellings are absolutely at the entry level and they cannot be throttled by red tape and unnecessary compliance costs.
"We are not asking for open slather. We want national consistency."
They also want legal protections for buyers, to ensure the homes they are buying are safe.
Mr Cameron said many adopters of tiny homes were vulnerable people, open to exploitation by manufacturers who did not have building qualifications.
"Some people are in tiny houses because they want to be and they find it very liberating to downsize. Other people are in them because of necessity," he said.
"The vast majority of our membership base are women over 50.
"Through rental displacement, domestic violence or other circumstances they are finding themselves without a roof over their head."
Call for regulatory overhaul
Professor Paul Burton and his colleagues at Griffith University's Cities Research Institute surveyed almost every urban council in the country to gauge planning authorities' attitudes to tiny houses.
He said there was urgent need for a review of current regulations to make sure they were fit for purpose.
"There is a recognition that the regulations were framed in the past and are perhaps and bit strict and could be relaxed," he said.
"You need to make sure you're not putting unnecessary burdens in the way of people who want to live like this.
"The challenge for people who want to live in tiny houses is finding the land on which to park them."
Brionny Jenkinson knows that challenge all too well.
The single mum of two has been living off-grid in a tiny home on wheels in central Victoria for the last six years.
She moved house five times in 18 months after her divorce and was "drowning" in credit card debt before making the switch.
"Things were very, very tough financially," she said.
"I was able to have a life again. Take my kids out for meals and not have to check my bank account before I go to do the grocery shopping.
"For me a tiny home means freedom and flexibility."
Ms Jenkinson now runs the country's largest online marketplace for tiny homes, which has grown from fewer than 10,000 users two years ago to 72,000 today.
She also has a website that connects tiny home owners with property owners who are willing to let them live on their land.
Different to caravans
Ms Jenkinson described the legislation as a "minefield" and said the community currently operated on the assumption that councils would not pursue them unless they received a formal complaint.
"So many of us don't have the luxury of being able to wait for regulatory bodies to change their minds," she said.
"There are tens of thousands of us doing it anyway.
"Two years ago, finding new landowners willing to lease a portion of their land to a 'tiny houser' was like pulling teeth.
"When I started hosts were very concerned about council guidelines, legislation and potential repercussions.
"Now it doesn't seem to be as big of a priority, they're concerned about helping others."
Mr Cameron and the association are on mission to educate regulators.
He said it was important to distinguish caravans from tiny homes, which can be set up with solar panels, rain water tanks and grey water systems and are designed to be lived in long-term.
"The fear is the 'trailer trash' meme that it's going to create a de facto slum or a ghetto," he said.
"There is a pretty widely held view amongst the tiny home community that they just want to be left alone, unregulated and go under the radar.
"The trouble with that view is that if it continues to be under the radar and too many complaints are made, the government will just ban them because that's the easy solution."
