The tiny home movement is coming to the North Coast, with the Coffs Harbour Tiny Home Expo set to take over Coffs Harbour Showground from Friday, 18 September to Sunday, 20 September.
Organiser Phae Barrett said the expo, now running in locations across the country, has grown enormously since it began five years ago. “There was about maybe 39 tops, people that were involved with tiny houses, including builders back then. There’s now over 300,” Ms Barrett said.
Visitors to the Coffs Harbour Showground can expect a mix of tiny houses on wheels, similar in classification to caravans, alongside modular homes fixed to the ground. Exhibitors will mainly come from New South Wales and Queensland, given the logistical challenge of transporting tiny homes long distances.
Ms Barrett said the expo is as much about information as it is about admiring finished homes. “We not only bring together the builders of these types of homes that I’ve just mentioned, but we also bring along all the things that go with it,” she said. That includes toilets, solar power and wastewater management, alongside a dedicated speaker hall.
The talks program typically covers rules and regulations with the Tiny House Association, real-life “going tiny” stories from people who have made the move, sustainable and eco-friendly building materials, and models for living in community on shared land. There are also sessions on land-finding services for those who don’t yet have a block, plus an off-grid panel covering solar, water, towing and site planning, and an open Q&A where visitors can put questions to a panel of tiny house experts.
Ms Barrett said the roster is largely consistent across expos, with small adjustments made for each location. “The talks are the same, like I say, at nearly every expo, we try and bring the information really is second to none,” she said. As the line-up and schedule can shift closer to the date, visitors are encouraged to check the expo website for the confirmed Coffs Harbour program before their visit.
Ms Barrett said the housing crisis has reshaped who is coming through the gates. Once dominated by single women over 55, the demographic is shifting fast. “I can absolutely attest that that demographic is changing by the week. It just gets younger and younger. So now families are getting more involved,” she said.
Tiny homes themselves have grown too. Where the largest models in 2021 topped out around seven metres long, the market now spans compact micro homes under six metres through to what Ms Barrett calls “mini mansions”, homes over ten metres long and up to three metres wide, often built as three-bedroom family homes.
Coffs Harbour was a natural fit for the expo, Ms Barrett said, given its position near the Northern Rivers, one of the country’s biggest tiny home hotspots alongside the Sunshine Coast and Byron Bay. She said people will travel well beyond their local area to attend, with some flying in from interstate.
The event’s staggered entry times and pricing, detailed on the expo website, are designed to manage crowds through the show’s tiny house displays. Ms Barrett recommends a morning ticket for those seriously considering a purchase, allowing time to attend several talks and ask questions, while an afternoon ticket suits those after a quicker look.
A new addition to the Coffs Harbour event is the “self-reliance” area, focused on homesteading and sustainable living skills, including which plants can serve as a natural medicine kit.
Beyond affordability and lifestyle, Ms Barrett pointed to a deeper layer of resilience the tiny home movement offers communities on a coastline no stranger to floods. One of the Coffs Harbour speaker sessions, still being finalised, will feature local women who have built their own tiny homes, including a Lismore flood survivor.
“If you had a bit of notice, there was no reason you couldn’t hitch up your tiny house within 24 hours and go to higher ground and come back,” Ms Barrett said.
Ms Barrett said the appeal of tiny living goes well beyond the interiors. “The grassroots is that less stuff, less mortgage, less housework and more connection,” she said.
More information, including the full talks schedule and staggered entry pricing, is available at tinyhomesexpo.com.au.
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