• 102 Gosport St, Hemmant, Brisbane QLD 4174
  • sales@gatewaycontainerpark.com.au
  • Call: (07) 3348 6463
Gateway Container Sales & Hire
Gateway Container Sales & Hire
Gateway Container Sales & Hire
Menu 
  • Shipping Containers
      • Containers for Sale & Hire by Size
        • 10ft Shipping Containers
        • 20ft Shipping Containers
        • 40ft Shipping Containers
        • Container Specifications
      • Containers for Sale & Hire by Type
        • General Purpose Containers
        • High Cube Containers
        • Side Opening Containers
        • Open Tops
        • Flat Rack Container
        • Insulated Shipping Containers for Sale
        • Refrigerated Containers
      • Shipping Container Modifications
        • Branded Containers
        • Flammable Goods Storage
        • Portable Office
        • Workshops
        • Accommodation Units
        • Lunch Rooms
        • Container Shelters
        • Training Containers
        • Switch Rooms
        • Shipping Container Toilets, Shower Blocks, and Ablution Blocks for Sale
        • Document & Archive Storage
      • Container Accessories
        • Container Security
        • Container Insulation
        • Container Ventilation
        • Container Shelving
        • Electrical Fitouts
        • Access Doors & Windows
        • Container Painting
          • Bargain Box

  • Self Storage & Hire
  • Delivery
  • FAQ
  • Our Difference
    • Our Company
      • About Us
      • Our Team
      • Testimonials
      • Industry Memberships
      • Sponsorships
      • Privacy Policy
    • Competitive Advantage
      • Ask an expert
      • Buy direct from the source
      • On site workshop & depot
      • On site storage
      • Guarantee
      • Service Area
      • Our Terms
      • Buy Back Policy
      • Industry Specialised
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Get a Quote
MENU CLOSE back  

Could Tiny Homes Help Tackle Tasmania’s Housing Crisis?

You are here:
  1. Home
  2. Shipping Container, Buildings, Modified Shipping Containers
  3. Could Tiny Homes Help Tackle Tasmania’s Housing Crisis?
Could Tiny Homes Help Tackle Tasmania’s Housing Crisis?

A community project in a depressed town in Tasmania is using repurposed shipping containers to help build the community out of poverty. 

One in four people in Break O’Day, Tasmania live below the poverty line. With this comes high rates of social exclusion, mental health problems and a lack of direction for the town’s kids. Housing is a problem in the community, so what better way to help tackle these issues than to train young adults in carpentry as they build tiny container homes for local families?

Let’s first look at the problems in the town and then how St Helen’s Neighbourhood House is training people to build their way out of poverty. 

Local social exclusion statistics

Image source: Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania

While on the surface Break O’Day is a quaint little seafront town, not everyone can be said to find life free and easy. 

Around 15.1% of Tasmanian residents live below the poverty line. While this is quite high as any measures go, Break O’Day is significantly worse than the average as 1,415 of its residents (23.61%) live at or below the poverty line. Of these, 269 (26.5% of children in the town) live in difficulty.

The biggest problem however is the amount of people in the town who live in ‘housing stress’, which the council defines as, “When a family or individual who has an income level in the bottom 40% of Australia’s income distribution and their household expenses consume 30% or more of their income”. Just short of 47% of the residents (161 households) are experiencing housing stress according to recent figures. 

Community resolves its problems

Funded by the Crown, St Helens Neighbourhood House is a community resource that many are using to face down and tackle the locality’s problems. The THRIVE project was set up within this to focus on the issues that so many in Break O’Day face. 

THRIVE stands for: Transforming Health Relationships Innovation Vocation and Education. In recent years it has enrolled 59 young adults in training, 85% who completed it, 48% who continued training beyond, 24% ended up volunteering, and two people (16%) ended up in full time employment as a result of that training. 

 One way to get young adults economically active has been the THRIVE Build project, where young people apprentice as carpenters while building container tiny homes. 

THRIVE Build

Training site for the THRIVE project. Image source: Break O’Day Woodcraft Guild & Men’s Shed

Seeded with $250,000 of grant money, the THRIVE Build project is designed to give young adults employment skills by training them as they build homes for the community. The idea is that once the container homes are built, they are auctioned off so the project eventually becomes self funding. 

According to the THRIVE website, “The project will potentially provide training towards a Certificate III in Carpentry to 12 people over an 18 month period. Training is delivered Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Trade Training Centre with a maximum intake of six people per two 9-month time frames.”

The social enterprise working group of THRIVE runs this, and a community vegetable garden, and between them the project claims it has, “obtained an apprenticeship for one young person and a further six are well along the path to towards a trade career in construction”. 

Shipping container tiny homes

Image source: Flipboard

Browse through the Gateway Gazette and you will see any number of shipping tiny home projects. While small in overall space, they can be built and fitted out for under $50,000, and retail for $80k plus. 

Speaking to ABC, St Helens Neighbourhood House Manager Trish O’Duffy said, “It’s quite an affordable home, it’s fully kitted out, we would like to tender for any housing strategy strategy that comes up, we feel that we’d be able to branch into that market.”

This issue was questioned however, with someone pointing out that a container tiny home might only be good for one or two people but certainly not a young family for example. For older couples and younger couples who have no children, shipping container housing at the ‘tiny’ end of the spectrum can make for cheap and affordable housing.

Actually building them gave real direction and drive to the apprentices. Supervising carpenter Brian Matthews said of his proteges to ABC, “I take little signs like taking a photo of what they’d just completed or showing up on time week in, week out as my way of gauging whether they’re enjoying themselves or not.”

Image source: ABC

As indicated above, the young adults involved in THRIVE seem to have got a lot out of the project, whether as a marketable skill for employment, or to use in the community for the community’s benefit while volunteering. 

Could this be done elsewhere?

 

Image source: ABC

Shipping containers are found almost everywhere on the planet. They are often left to rot, but with a bit of skill and time can be repurposed into housing. There are issues – they are designed to be pest free transportation equipment and the flooring for example has all sorts of nasty chemicals in it to keep out insects. 

Being metal boxes they have little or no insulation from the elements outside. This means they need insulation in almost all climates. Beyond that you need light ingress so need to reinforce and cut out access doors and windows – all this comes on top of fitting the place out as a home. 

Once the home is wired, plumbed and fitted it can be installed on a simple foundation and either left as long as required or moved on as often as needed. 

The skills and trades that go into converting a shipping container into a home can make the apprentice who does it very employable, especially in an area that has housing need. They can train in different trades from plumbing, to joinery and from the listless, feckless youth who turns up on day one can see a transformation into a man or woman who never goes hungry again – with a trade like joinery you never will!

Gateway Container Sales

For just a few thousand dollars you can buy and fit out your own container tiny home too! Just get in contact with us today to discuss your needs and we’ll do what we can to help.  

Posted on February 18, 2019
By GCS Content TeamShipping Container Buildings Modified Shipping ContainersLeave a comment
Tags:container homesBuilding with Shipping Containersmodified shipping containertiny homes

Related Topics

lock_shipping_containers1
How to Lock Shipping Containers Together
March 14, 2022
clad-shipping-container1
How to Clad a Shipping Container
March 7, 2022
Shipping container fire
Can Shipping Containers Be Used for Fire Protection?
February 21, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

clearPost Comment

The Gateway Guarantee

Gateway carry hundreds of containers to choose from in our 2 depots, have decades of experience and know the container business inside out. We guarantee delivery of containers to the South East QLD and Northern NSW region by truck, rail or sea, or any combination thereof.

Gateway is 1 of 5 companies in Queensland who can purchase shipping containers direct from the shipping lines, so you can be sure you are buying or hiring:

  • Direct from the source
  • Widest range of containers
  • Fastest turnaround
  • Guaranteed delivery
  • Quality workmanship

If we don’t have the box you need onsite, we will source the best quality box, for the best value, faster than any other provider. Read More about the Gateway No Nonsense Guarantee.

Get a Quote Today!

gateway-bargin-box

Quick Links
  • Shipping Containers
  • Self Storage & Hire.
  • Delivery
  • Container Specifications
  • Guarantee
  • FAQ
  • Our Company
Tune into the 20ft Tabloid
Specials, expert tips, creative containers, innovative mods - shipped straight to your inbox!
Contact Information

Contact Gateway Container Sales
Email enquiry
Phone: 07 3348 6463
Fax: 07 3348 6588

We are open:
6:00am to 4:30pm Mon-Fri

Gateway Container Sales and Hire Pty Ltd
Australian Owned & Operated GatewayAddress:
102 Gosport St, Hemmant QLD 4174

FacebookTwitterGoogle+
Storage & Shipping Containers For Sales & Hire | Brisbane, Gold Coast, QLD – Gateway Containers. © 2020
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy