Homegrown Housing
Small-Scale Housing Solutions for the Sunshine Coast
How can we create more housing while making better use of the homes, land and infrastructure we already have?
Homegrown Housing is exploring practical ways to create smaller-scale housing that fits the needs and character of Sunshine Coast communities.
In partnership with Happy Cities, we are looking at two approaches: adapting existing homes to create more places to live, and creating small clusters of homes on a single property.
Our goal is to make these housing options easier to understand and easier to build—for homeowners, non-profit organizations and small-scale builders.
Why Homegrown Housing?
The Sunshine Coast needs more housing choices.
Much of our existing housing is made up of single-detached homes, while our community increasingly needs smaller, more accessible and more affordable options. Older adults may want to downsize while staying in their community, while workers and families need attainable places to live.
Small-scale housing can add homes gradually within existing neighbourhoods. But property owners and small builders can face challenges with approvals, servicing, financing and construction costs.
Homegrown Housing is working to understand these barriers and develop practical ways to overcome them.
Two Housing Approaches
Making Better Use of Existing Homes
Existing homes can sometimes be renovated or adapted to create additional places to live—for example, by converting a larger house into two or more homes. This can make better use of housing and land that already exists while creating new options for people at different ages and stages of life.
Creating Small Clusters of Homes
Cluster housing brings several smaller homes together on one property. Homes may be detached or semi-detached and arranged around shared outdoor or amenity spaces.
This approach can provide smaller housing choices while supporting social connection and making efficient use of land.
From Ideas to Practical Solutions
Homegrown Housing isn’t just studying these housing models—we want to understand what it actually takes to make them work on the Coast.
Working with homeowners, planners, builders, housing organizations and other experts, we are exploring:
Which properties are suitable
Planning and approval requirements
Costs, financing and ownership options
Affordability and accessibility
Energy efficiency and climate resilience
Barriers to developing small-scale housing
Real Sunshine Coast properties will be used to test ideas so that the recommendations reflect local conditions, costs and challenges.
Creating a Homegrown Housing Playbook
What we learn will be brought together in a free, practical Homegrown Housing Playbook.
The Playbook will help homeowners, non-profits and small builders understand how to approach a small-scale housing project, including:
Housing and design options
Planning and approvals
Costs and financing
Ownership approaches
Accessibility and energy efficiency
Lessons from real-world examples
The goal is to take some of the uncertainty out of the process and help people understand whether a small-scale housing project could work for them.
The Playbook will be designed so that lessons from the Sunshine Coast can also benefit other rural and small communities facing similar housing challenges.
Building Solutions Together
Homegrown Housing is a partnership between the Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society and Happy Cities, with input from local governments, housing organizations, builders, financial institutions, technical experts and community members.
By bringing different perspectives together, we can develop housing approaches that are practical, locally appropriate and grounded in the realities of building on the Sunshine Coast.
Homegrown Housing runs from 2026 to 2027, with the Playbook and project learnings shared publicly as the work progresses.
Make a difference
The Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society (SCAHS) is creating housing that strengthens our community by providing stability and hope for a better future.