Today the NZTHA (New Zealand Tiny House Association) has released it's first quarterly update, and WOW there's some extremely encouraging work being done by the all volunteer team. You can see the full newsletter here.
On 26 September 2019, the New Zealand Tiny House Association (NZTHA) Spokesperson Nathan Orr, and Secretary Sharla May, had a meeting with Green MP Gareth Hughes to discuss the necessary regulatory reform required to legalise living in Tiny Homes on Wheels throughout the country. Nathan, Sharla, and Gareth plan to work together to draft a Bill to present to parliament, If passed, we'd be the first country to have a single, overarching piece of legislation on tiny homes that governs all regional jurisdictions. This seminal piece of legislation would provide a global example of how proactive legislation reform can provide diverse housing options. NZ is already leading the world with our innovative lightweight tiny house designs, why not start leading with legislation too?
Members of the NZTHA will have the opportunity to voice their opinion on what should be included, and excluded from, this Bill. So if you'd like to be a part of this process make sure to join the association ASAP.
The update has been well received by the NZ Tiny House Community, see one members excited post below...
The newsletter also touts progress in the area of establishing voluntary building and safety standards - something that we here at Build Tiny Ltd are fully in support of, and have signed up to be a part of the working group tasked with drafting up these standards. We believe that there should be a standard applied to the construction of Tiny Homes across the country, so that purchasers know that the basics have bee done right from a construction perspective, and that any tiny house being sold as a vehicle, also meets the NZTA's requirements for the applicable vehicle type.
The newsletter also covers the MBIE determination we talked about in our last blog post, outlining the NZTHAs position on this determination "It is our view that MBIE was incorrect in their conclusion in the Determination on Alan Dall’s Tiny House for a number of reasons. This determination misinterprets the definition of a vehicle, it ignores the regulations that state - to be considered a building, a vehicle must be BOTH immovable AND occupied on a permanent or long-term basis, and the assessor only offered precedence from determinations that concluded vehicles were buildings, offering little evidence of robust comparative consideration. Determinations like this, that misinterpret or evade currently pieces of regulation or information, unjustly call into question the legitimacy of tiny homes such as Alan’s."
There is also a article by Kyron Gosse included in the update about the feasibility of establishing Tiny House Communities in NZ - “From the consumer point of view Tiny House communities make complete sense, low rents, low impact development and being surrounded by like minded people.“
Overall the first quarterly update from the NZTHA is extremely promising, and we applaud the unified effort from the small yet dedicated voluntary executive committee. We will be continuing to support the NZTHA in any way we can to see more regulatory clarity, and better housing options for New Zealanders.