City to look at how tiny homes can help housing crisis

Hamilton is a big place that’s exploring tiny homes.

Councillors have asked staff to investigate how such micro-dwellings can fit into the city’s landscape amid an affordable-housing crunch.

“We are in a bind in this city ... the housing crisis in Hamilton is very real,” Coun. Matthew Green said during Tuesday’s planning committee meeting.

Green hopes to clear a the regulatory path for nonprofit or philanthropic agencies to provide homes 425 square feet or smaller to those in need of secure, permanent housing.

“I just want to be on the record and say this will not solve the problem,” he added.

The Ward 3 councillor said there’s a growing population in Hamilton of “displaced” residents living along rail lines, public parks and abandoned buildings.

His idea draws inspiration from efforts elsewhere to bridge gaps between homelessness and the expensive regular-sized housing market, pointing to initiatives in the United States.

In Detroit, Cass Community Social Services is building 25 homes in the range of 250 to 400 square feet, which low-income residents will eventually have the chance to own outright, Green notes.

“This gives them a little light at the end of the tunnel.”

Green said his motion builds on Coun. Jason Farr’s ongoing exploration of laneway homes.

The Good Shepherd and the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton hope to provide tiny duplexes for women at risk of homelessness on a Clarence Street parcel accessed by a laneway downtown.

“I think it fits in perfectly,” Farr said, calling Green’s initiative “a more global approach.”

The Ward 2 councillor said developers and corporate sponsors are interested in the initiative.