Bower’s tiny house program offers women the chance to have a luxury space of their own
Billed as the only six-day crash course for beginners where they build the bulk of a tiny house, Bower’s workshop whets a seemingly insatiable appetite for tiny houses. It’s fueled by social media streams documenting tiny house life with photos of picture perfect tiny houses, often like the one at Bower, made largely from recycled materials.
Dee Why’s Queen Dechoe Legend receives instructions on how to use a circular saw.Credit: peter rae
When Susan, whose last name was not revealed, told her friends she was doing the course, she was surprised at how many secret ambitions were revealed to have a small house to get away from everyone else, including partners, children and visitors.
Often they had photos from tiny houses, favorite websites and Instagram accounts. “This is tiny house porn,” Susan said. “It embraces the idea of getting away, being secluded and cozy and having a peaceful zen space where no one can reach you,” she said.
It was a chance to realize Virginia Woolf’s ambition a private room.
Galletly has built 15 tiny houses. Seven were on Bower courses, where the women outnumbered the men each time. “I never expected that,” he said.
James Galletly, known as ‘Upcyclist’, runs the tiny house building course at the Bower Reuse & Repair Centre.Credit: Rhett Wyman
An older participant told him last week that she wanted to learn carpentry after she finished school, but at that time women and girls were not even considered for these craft training courses.
Galletly said, “Fathers taught boys to build and mothers taught girls to sew.” Now that older women are being given the opportunity to learn these skills, no one will stop them.”
Australian Tiny House Association President Janine Strachan said the demand for this type of housing is large and varied. The spectrum ranged from working couples to recipients of government benefits, people who have escaped domestic violence, young adults and downsizers.
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A petition by the association on Change.org tries to clarify contradicting and confusing rules surrounding tiny houses. It said Australians need affordable, flexible and environmentally friendly housing, but the country has not moved fast enough to legalize tiny house living.
Nobody knew the exact number of tiny houses in Australia because “most people who lived in tiny houses lived under the radar,” Strachan said.
Investigations by Dr. Heather Shearer, Lecturer and Research Fellow at Griffith University, has revealed that local authorities across Australia have different rules and regulations and levels of tolerance.
keep writing The conversationShearer and co-author Professor Paul Burton noted that most local councils have now approved a number of smaller homes, despite public perceptions that they opposed such housing. Some have special codes for tiny houses on wheels. She said NSW and Queensland are the most advanced.
Queen Dechoe Legend discovered how to build a tiny house. Credit: Julie Power
One planner told them, “With housing affordability, inflation, vulnerability to emergencies and the like, we need to think differently about how we live and maybe be more lenient about allowing this type of housing — be it permanent or temporary.”
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Shearer sees a role for tiny homes as supplementary housing on larger blocks in the missing middle suburbs. “We need to increase the infill density in our cities, and we have large proportions of single-family homes.”
Tiny houses are “very Instagrammable,” Shearer said. But very often the reality did not correspond to the dreams. For those unable to build their own home, a tiny house could cost as much as $150,000 to buy, making it more expensive per square foot than other homes, and difficult to get a loan or insure.
Like several others, Adkins traveled from Victoria to Sydney for the course, where she homeschools three primary school-age children. Living in a tiny house has been impractical for quite a while, she said. “I like the idea of something small and simple that’s clearly not practical, which is why it was the stuff of my dreams and not my definitive path.”
She is currently thinking about building a small house for guests.
About: Bower Tiny House Program
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