Planning and mental health implications of modular homes

An interdisciplinary study of modular homes and the vulnerable people that live in them, funded with the assistance of a Practitioner Research Fund grant from the RTPI. These homes frequently do not meet the UK’s ‘Nationally Described Space Standard’ (2015), or the Republic of Ireland’s ‘Design Standards for New Apartments’ (2018), in which the minimum is 37 square metres of floor space per dwelling, the smallest permissible studio apartment for a single person.

Some modules are built from timber frames or insulated panels, while others are converted from shipping containers. External dimensions are constrained by the need to move these units by road and deploy each module by crane. Local authorities and charities have implemented housing schemes based on these prefabricated structures, intended to tackle homelessness more quickly and at a lower cost than conventional construction.

While people living in caravans have been the subject of planning case law for many decades, ‘tiny’ or modular homes have been presented as a new housing solution despite being functionally similar to caravans lived in by gypsies and travellers, or tourist caravans used year-round by permanent residents.

Any discrepancy between attitudes to ‘tiny homes’ and caravans creates uncertainty for planning and housing officers regarding accommodation for some of the most disadvantaged people in society. While anyone can become homeless, this risk is greatly increased for marginalised groups, and so spatial standards for accommodation can be considered an equalities issue.