Shellharbour approves two-year tiny homes rental pilot program
Shellharbour backed a two-year tiny homes rental trial that skips development applications for trailer-based units, with a June 23 vote setting up the pilot.
Shellharbour City Council gave the green light to a two-year tiny homes rental pilot on June 23, setting up a new approval pathway for certain mobile tiny homes used as rental accommodation. The trial will let trailer-based tiny homes, the kind that can be registered as vehicles under the Road Transport Act 2013, move forward without a development application.
The council’s plan is tightly defined. It applies only to compact dwellings built on trailers and is aimed at improving short-term housing supply and affordability in Shellharbour. Chris Homer said the trial was intended to give council a practical way to respond to housing pressure while still keeping safety and planning standards in place.
The policy did not land on council’s agenda overnight. It went through public exhibition and community consultation before the final endorsement, with the planning proposal exhibited from April 9 to May 8, 2026. Submissions were due by 4:30pm on Friday, May 22, 2026, and the planning file carried reference PP0002/2025 and Planning Portal reference PP-2025-2427.
Council documents say the policy was made under section 158 of the Local Government Act 1993, and a council report said the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure advised that a Local Approvals Policy would provide the legal framework for the trial. Shellharbour has also tied the pilot to temporary exempt development provisions in Schedule 2 of the Shellharbour Local Environmental Plan, giving the program a narrower regulatory footing than a standard housing approval change.
The council will now monitor how the pilot affects neighborhoods, infrastructure and overall housing supply across the two-year period, while also reviewing community feedback. At the end of the trial, council will decide whether to continue the program, modify it or stop it altogether.
The idea had already surfaced in a March 2024 mayoral minute, which proposed a two-year trial and said the rules would need to protect adjoining properties, local streetscapes and the environment. What Shellharbour approved this month was not a broad rewrite of housing rules, but a contained test of whether tiny homes can work as rental stock when the approvals process is stripped back and the boundaries are kept clear.
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