A local trust is searching for land in the Upper Clutha where it can establish an affordable, sustainable, tiny house village. 

The Upper Clutha Tiny House Communities Trust (UCTHCT) has a mission to create a housing model that allows people to live in a connected community that is both low cost and has a light environmental footprint.  

It has a three-pronged method for achieving its goal: finding land, building affordable houses and providing education and consultation.

UCTHCT chair Thomas Schattovits acknowledged the challenges of trying to implement a new type of housing in a heavily regulated setting, but said tiny homes were becoming a more mainstream idea.

"The construction of small homes has really made a huge leap forward,” Thomas said.

Councils in Waitomo, Auckland and Hamilton are currently working on tiny house initiatives, he said.  

In its submission to the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s annual plan, the trust advocated reprioritising growth infrastructure funds into community projects.  

Trust chair Thomas Schattovits says there are environmental and financial benefits to tiny homes.

We are looking to build "something a bit different from traditional subdivisions," UCTHCT trustee and treasurer Anja O'Connor said. 

"Housing developments don't have to be damaging to the land.”

The trust’s search for land in Wanaka is currently a work in progress. 

One of the major attractions of tiny houses is their affordability, Thomas said, as they can provide people on fixed or limited incomes access to warm, secure homes. 

Affordability can be achieved by building smaller homes using waste materials; Thomas said the construction waste from new builds and renovations is "enormous".  

With the idea of putting that waste to use, two members of UCTHCT have also established the Wanaka Tiny House Factory, a limited liability company with a queue of people wanting a tiny house and the first tiny house already under construction. 

The Wanaka Tiny House Factory is a social enterprise, so its profits will fund social programmes for affordable small homes. “We'd be in a position to fund the trust's initiatives," Thomas said. 

"Our idea is to have a yard so that after construction waste has been collected, it can be stored and managed, and the public can have access to it, but they also have access to consultancy.”

The trust is also already underway with the third prong of its mission: education and consultancy.  

They plan to regularly publish information on housing affordability as well as other topics like composting toilets, solar power, alternative methods of transport and shared resources.  

The trust plans to educate institutions, industries, businesses and individuals about efficient waste management systems.

This newly formed trust was established during the lockdown via Zoom meetings. Members of the public can visit its Facebook page for notification of its monthly get-togethers and invite anyone interested to attend.

PHOTOS: Supplied