Better than Nothing? A scoping review on tiny homes and sleeping cabins as a response to homelessness in high-income countries

Tiny homes and sleeping cabins are often touted as a quick and efficient solution to providing shelter or housing for unhoused individuals. No known knowledge syntheses have amalgamated this body of literature, and this is needed to inform future research, practice and policy. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review using the framework advanced by Arksey and O’Malley. We searched seven databases supplemented by a search of grey literature. We included studies that were empirical, non-empirical, of any design, and both peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literature. This search yielded 116 unique articles following the removal of duplicates. Over half of the included articles were empirical (n = 65; 56 %) and less than half were peer-reviewed (n = 43; 37.1 %). The majority of articles represented literature pertaining to the United States (n = 89; 76.7) and Canada (n = 14; 12.1 %). We generated four themes in our narrative synthesis: 1) Tiny homes and sleeping cabins as a viable component of a broader solution to homelessness; 2) How to make it happen; 3) Critical perspectives on the use of tiny homes and sleeping cabins as a response to homelessness; and 4) It’s better than nothing. We conclude that a range of articles on this topic have been published, yet this literature remains under-developed with few empirical studies providing evidence for the effectiveness of tiny homes and sleeping cabins over other interventions. More empirical research is needed to warrant the use of tiny homes and sleeping cabins as a response to homelessness in light of literature on alternative approaches.