Thunder Bay is building its first tiny home village. Advocates say the key to success is a sense of community
16 transitional housing units to include full amenities, on-site support
It's a cycle Nicole Latour sees on a regular basis: people being moved from homeless encampments in Thunder Bay, Ont., and into apartments, only to end up living in tents again.
The problem? They're gaining a roof over their head but losing their sense of community, she explained.
"The model that we currently have where we take people out of communal living situations, encampments, and house them independently in an apartment unit away from their peers — we're finding that that's not working for everybody, that we needed to look outside of the box and introduce a new model to the community."
The solution? Creating transitional housing with tiny homes.
Latour is executive director of Alpha Court Community Mental Health and Addiction Services. Last month, the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board (TBDSSAB) announced $3.8 million in funding for the organization.
The money comes through the province's Homelessness Prevention Program and will support the creation of 16 tiny home units at 212 Miles St. E. on the city's south side. The program is supporting the creation of 66 new transitional housing units in Thunder Bay this year across three organizations.
In November, Thunder Bay's city council voted against creating a temporary shelter village with between 80 and 100 units on Miles Street East for people experiencing homelessness. The project received considerable criticism from business owners in the area, and city staff are exploring alternative locations.
"The main difference is when you talk about amenities," Latour said of how tiny homes differ from the temporary shelter village.
The tiny homes will each come with a full bathroom, kitchen and sleeping quarters, she said, while the temporary shelters are more like sleeping cabins meant to temporarily get people out of the elements.
The homes are being built locally, with hopes of moving people into them by August.
A number of communities across Canada have been exploring similar structures as a way of easing the housing crisis while using a smaller footprint, from Peterborough's modular cabins to a tiny home community in Lower Sackville in Nova Scotia.
Meeting needs for social inclusion, variety
The biggest challenge Latour encountered with the project was finding serviceable land, she said.
"We know that there's a shortage of serviceable land, residential serviceable land, so where you can find land, you need to take advantage of it," she said.
Residents will receive case management support on-site to help them build the skills they need to live independently and achieve their goals, such as education, employment or recovery from addiction, Latour said.
While the project will mark Thunder Bay's first tiny home community, the units aren't new to the city. First Nations students that are part of the Kendomang Zhagodenamnon Lodge (KZ) program at Hammarskjold High School can earn a school credit by building tiny homes.
Bonnie Krysowaty is co-ordinator of the Lakehead Social Planning Council's (LSPC) poverty reduction strategy, which includes a tiny homes subcommittee. The group has grown substantially over the last few years and works closely with Smart Modular Canada and the KZ program.
Krysowaty helped direct Latour to Smart Modular Canada to help get the tiny home village started.
"There needs to be a variety of options for people, whether it's transitional or permanent housing, and this supply is a certain need for a specific group of people – so it's really exciting to see this happening," Krysowaty said.
The social inclusion aspect is an integral part of the tiny home model's success, she said, and is something she hopes to see Thunder Bay expand upon.
"I think this really speaks to the variety of solutions that tiny homes can provide — so not only to organizations that support people that might be experiencing chronic homelessness or episodic homelessness or are at the risk of homelessness, but providing different solutions to seniors, to students, to couples, to small families."
Pallet shelter plans in Kenora
Similar to Thunder Bay's proposed temporary shelter village, efforts are underway to get between 40 and 50 pallet shelters up in Kenora.
Dr. Jonny Grek, a family physician and community advocate, has been championing the concept for years. He's among those leading the proposal at the grassroots level alongside partners such as Grand Council Treaty #3.
The group has identified two potential plots of city-owned land. This week, a company called Pallet Shelter will be presenting them with blueprints and cost estimates, which are hoped to be presented to Kenora's city council next month, Grek said.
If all goes to plan, the shelters — which consist of basic sleeping quarters with heating and cooling — could be ready by the summer, he said.
The pallet shelter property would have communal washrooms and showers facilities, laundry facilities, and a mess hall for meals.
"This is the quickest, best available option and likely cheapest option that can have people sheltered as soon as possible, but we also know it's not ideal," he said.
Grek envisions the pallet shelters to be Phase 1 of the project, with Phase 2 seeing a tiny home village where each unit is equipped with amenities, like Alpha Court's model.
In both phases, Grek said it's essential to make sure residents are provided with wraparound support from community partners. His group has been consulting with members of Kenora's unhoused population to make sure their perspectives are part of these plans.
"If we build something and it doesn't support the needs of the people, they simply won't use it," he said. "I believe that they would still likely choose the -30 C weather or couch surfing over a tiny home community if it really isn't built with their needs in mind."
Back in Thunder Bay, Latour said Alpha Court will be collecting data from the tiny home village project with the goal of improving upon the model and duplicating it elsewhere in the city.
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