Tiny shelter communities are popping up across Canada. Here's what they offer

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Cabins are popping up in communities across Canada as a way to provide shelter from the elements for those experiencing homelessness. But some say they are not a permanent solution to getting people off the streets.

Advocates, companies and organizations across Canada are trying to figure out how to best help people who are homeless, especially as temperatures across the country drop to unsafe levels.

One possible solution is tiny shelters, many of which look like a single room with only a bed, or a small-scale cabin with a separate living space and washroom.

Examples of communities trying out these kinds of shelters have been created in New Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia, among other locations in Canada, all with the goal of helping people who are homeless.

In addition to differing from often overcrowded shelters in layout, these tiny cabins tend to be on the outskirts of cities and are grouped together, resembling a neighbourhood.

Although the buildings are effective at getting people out of the elements, they are not the permanent solution to widespread homelessness, according to some experts.

SHELTERS IN ONTARIO

Now Housing is a construction company in Ontario dedicated to building shelters out of shipping containers. The company partners with housing organizations and municipalities to deliver these temporary solutions.

The cabins it builds are four metres by 2.4 metres in size and come with a bed, a dresser, a desk and a mini fridge.

They're designed to meet provincial building codes and the high ceilings create the illusion of a larger space, said Chris Pursel, spokesperson for Housing Now, in an interview with CTVNews.ca.

"Things are only getting worse," Pursel said of Canada's housing and homelessness crisis.

Now Housing has completed two communities, each consisting of 50 temporary private cabins, in the Ontario city of Peterborough and the Region of Waterloo.

"The Peterborough one is located beside an existing shelter building," Pursel said. "We also put a 40-foot (12-metre) container on site that has washrooms and a shower, so there's additional support that way."

The shelters were born out of necessity.

People were previously living in more than 50 tents in an area across the street, Pursel said. The cabins, with everything included, cost $21,500 for Now Housing to build, the company said.

While the Peterborough cabin community was built near other facilities, the Waterloo project is more on the outskirts of the municipality, Pursel said.

Since the location is not close to washrooms or other supports, Now Housing created a 12- by 14-metre community centre, equipped with laundry, washrooms and gathering spaces, for cabin residents to use.

Pursel said the issue of location is one of the challenges these projects face.

It's not because of how much space the cabins take up, but because of the reaction from members of the public.

Pursel said "more than a few times" he has heard complaints from residents about how the tiny shelter communities could be troublesome for neighbourhoods.

TINY SHELTER IDEA SPREADS

That's not how Mark Wilson sees the Now Housing communities.

The housing advocate with Bring Down the House in St. John's, N.L., said he sees the cabins as providing "a lot of flexibility" at a "very low cost."

Wilson told CTVNews.ca in an interview that he used to be a case worker for a member of Parliament, meaning he helped deal with constituents' issues and direct them to solutions.

In that line of work, he said, he was able to see the gaps in government systems, especially during the pandemic.

Then, in October 2023, about 30 people set up an encampment of two dozen tents in a large field across the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial legislature.

The people living there said they hoped their presence in that location would prompt quicker action from the government to solve the homelessness crisis in the province.

Wanting to see those people off the streets and safe, Wilson looked for solutions elsewhere in the country, and stumbled upon Now Housing and its cabin project in Waterloo.

With the help of other organizations in St. John's, Wilson and the team behind Bring Down the House are hoping to raise enough money to buy one of Now Housing's cabins.

Once the organization buys the cabin, it will be "toured around on the back of a trailer" to "generate conversations" in municipalities across the region.

Wilson hopes to find "local champions" who see the cabins as a viable option for getting people off the streets, thus securing support and funding to build a cabin community.

"If we're able to quickly implement that kind of idea, maybe there's a way for us to offset the crisis from getting worse here," Wilson said.

PERMANENT HOUSING STILL NEEDED

The Now Housing cabins are not a permanent solution, according to Tim Richter, founder and president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.

"The tiny homes are people responding to the housing crisis and trying to find new ways to solve the problem, which is great," he told CTVNews.ca in an interview. "But we have to be careful that we are not replicating what effectively happens with food banks."

Food banks do not exist because there is a lack of food, but because there is poverty, he said. Richter said both aim to solve problems in the short term, but don't get to the root.

"We don't want to simply be creating a whole bunch of emergency responses," he said.

To address the homelessness crisis, Richter said permanent housing needs to offer safety, quality, choice, and the ability to stay long-term.

Richter said it’s important to note that people who live in these temporary cabins are still “homeless” and in “transitional housing.”

More permanent housing options include long-term affordable rentals, and homes with low or no costs to the person living in it.

"I think it's really important for us to be focusing on creating that long-term, durable, permanent solution versus stringing together a series of crisis responses," he said.