Single mum living bayside dream thanks to tiny home revolution

Standing at almost 190cm tall, single mum Briony Jenkinson never pictured herself living in a Tiny House.

But when a marriage breakdown landed the Bellarine Peninsula woman in financial dire straits, making the drastic decision to abandon traditional housing proved her saviour.

“The last divorce I got down to $5 in my bank account and things got really hairy both financially and mental health wise,” Ms Jenkinson said.

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Single mum and founder of Park My Tiny House Briony Jenkinson lives in a Tiny House on the Bellarine Peninsula. Picture: Supplied

“It was quite a dark period in my life and I felt like I was out of options.

“Rentals are always hard but I just kept looking for things that were cheaper and cheaper and then the cost of utilities was almost as much as my rent.”

In desperation, she sold all her furniture for $2000 and bought a Breaking Bad-style caravan for herself and her two children, then aged six and 12, to live in.

She initially parked the stopgap housing solution in a friend’s back yard before moving to a block in Trentham that she walked away from the divorce with.

After 18 months, with financial help from her parents, she’d saved enough money to buy her first Tiny House – a rustic off-grid place on wheels which the family happily lived in for five years.

Ms Jenkinson describes her current Tiny House as “bougie”. Picture: Supplied

Ms Jenkinson followed her parents to the Bellarine Peninsula 18 months ago, investing in a new up-market tiny house where she lives on a large rented property.

“We now have waterfront views, we’re a few hundred metres from the beach on the Bellarine for less than $200 a week in a tiny house that I own outright,” she said.

The 9.5m long by 2.5m wide house offers just 22sq m of space, but has everything the family needs, including a kitchen with an island bench and dishwasher, a bathroom and a home office.

She can clean the whole thing from top to bottom in 15 minutes but the benefits run much deeper.

“I really do believe that living in a tiny house has saved my life because I don’t know where I would have gone otherwise,” she said.

The compact kitchen has everything the family needs. Picture: Supplied

Her personal experience prompted Ms Jenkinson to found Park My Tiny House, a growing business that connects Tiny House owners with landowners all over Australia willing to rent a parking space.

Most tenants are on a minimum one-year lease, with some staying at the same property for up to four years.

Demand from tenants currently outstrips land supply four to one, a problem compounded by an absence of supportive council policy and varying regulations across Australia, something she’s campaigning to change.

“It’s not a homelessness solution but it fits the bill for people like me who have come off divorce,” she said.

“Women are the ones who tend to get screwed the most by the housing crisis because we are looking after the kids, working part time, we don’t necessarily have the income to pay a traditional mortgage or $700 a week rent so we are the ones that are in-between the gaps of homeless and being a regular house that are vulnerable.”

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