‘It’s been a beautiful journey’: ABTC co-founder prepares for transition and departure

The co-founder of the tiny home community prepares to leave as the region and The Working Centre takes over. CTV’s Jeff Pickel explains.

After six years of living onsite and serving as the heart of A Better Tent City (ABTC), co-founder Nadine Green is preparing to leave the tiny home community following a formal takeover by the Region of Waterloo.

“It’s been a beautiful six years,” said Green, one of the co-founders of ABTC. “Just seeing the people grow, seeing their confidence come back, seeing all the love that is shared.”

Green started ABTC in 2020 with local business owner Ron Doyle and former City of Kitchener chief administrative officer Jeff Wilmer.

In 2019, Green was removed from the convenience store she owned in downtown Kitchener for allowing unhoused people to sleep inside. Doyle was impressed by her commitment and offered up one of his properties, event space Lot42, as a home for the people Green was helping.

“We helped a lot of people, and we didn’t care who you were. If you came in for help, you would get help,” Green said.

Doyle passed away in 2021, but ABTC lived on, moving twice before finding a permanent home beside the school board office on Ardelt Avenue.

In May, the board of ABTC said it could not continue and asked the Region of Waterloo to step in.

On June 24, regional council voted 14-2 in favour of absorbing the tiny home community into its broader shelter system, officially transferring operations to The Working Centre.

“It created a real place for people,” said Joe Mancini, director of The Working Centre, at the time. “The region is basically saying we need to keep this going. There’s a lot there that can be supported.”

The region was told it will cost $2.56 million this year to operate the site and that price tag is expected to increase. An additional $2.5 million may also be needed this year to repair cabins and make improvements to common and shared spaces.

“It is estimated that annual operating costs to operate this site, as well as person and system stabilization costs, will be $5.76 million. The incremental levy impact will be $2.44 million in 2026 and $2.96 million in 2027,” a regional staff report said.

Green’s departure

With the new regional rules and regulations, Green was no longer able to continue in her current role living on site.

“I’m upset about the outcome, but I’m also looking at how far we’ve come,” said Green, who will move out in early August.

She said when they started, they had no idea how long it would last or if it would even work.

“Seeing how everybody rallied around us—all of the volunteers, all of the board members, just everyone just reached in and helped us—and I’m so grateful.”

To many who live at ABTC, Green is referred to simply as “Mom.”

“She is definitely very approachable, she is very open, she’s very understanding of every circumstance no matter who you are,” said Christine Wiseman, who has lived at ABTC for the last several years.

“I want people to know that this woman is love. She has a big heart, she is a strong woman who is willing to help anyone,” said Diana Meyers, who has lived at ABTC since 2020.

Meyers said she is emotional about Green leaving.

“You’re the best thing that ever happened to us, you saved my life,” Meyers said as she embraced Green.

Green says after six years of non-stop work, she is ready to take a break.

“I’ve been living the life as a homeless person for six years. When you’re homeless, you don’t get a holiday, so I’m just going to have a holiday and figure out what my next move will be,” Green said.

The Working Centre officially takes over starting July 20, bringing an end to the open-door model that previously allowed visitors to come and go as they pleased. For six years, part of ABTC’s core philosophy was never turning anyone away, leading the site to act as a makeshift drop-in and warming centre for dozens in need.

“The reality of visitors in shelters is almost 100 per cent related to safety,” Mancini explained.

The site currently features 42 cabins with roughly 60 full-time residents calling it home. The Working Centre confirmed all full-time residents will be allowed to stay.

To support the non-residents who will no longer be allowed to use the site for meals or showers, the region is setting aside $2.8 million to fund a new drop-in centre. In the interim, those individuals will be directed to St. John’s Soup Kitchen on Victoria Street.