Cabins for homeless may not fit city rules
KITCHENER — A new kind of settlement for the homeless falls between the regulatory cracks, but organizers hope they can convince the city and region that it fills a need and makes sense to create an exception during exceptional times.
The Better Tent City is a collection of small cabins on an industrial site on Ardelt Place in Kitchener for people who can’t or won’t access the formal shelter system, and is the brainchild of entrepreneur Ron Doyle, who owns the site.
About 20 people who used to live in tents are living in one-room cabins that have windows, a lock on the door, and access to a kitchen, shower and a laundry room.
The Kitchener settlement fills a need, argues Jeff Willmer, who retired as the top bureaucrat at the City of Kitchener in 2017.
More than 20 municipalities and community groups, from Hamilton, St. Thomas, Brantford, and even as far away as Duncan, B.C., have asked for more details about the project.
That need is clear in the comments from residents, Willmer says. “When I’m here, I feel like a person,” one told him. “Everywhere else I go, they make me feel like a problem.”
Organizers hope the project would set up for two or three years on the land of a willing owner, ideally near downtown Kitchener, close to social services, on vacant land slated for development. Once the land is ready to be developed, the settlement would move to another willing site.
The settlement is modelled on one in San Jose, Calif., which has a “tiny house” community on city land that provides supports, enabling homeless people to transition to permanent housing.
The hope is to stay at Ardelt at least until next spring, so that people have safer, warmer shelter than the nylon tents many of them have relied on in past winters, said Willmer.
Proponents have been in regular talks with the city and the Region of Waterloo, trying to overcome zoning and other regulatory hurdles. “The city and the region are not yet willing to take the plunge,” Willmer said. “They haven’t taken steps to shut us down, but on the other hand, they’re still assessing what exactly are we in terms of land use.”
The cabins were designed to be movable and to be no larger than 10 square metres, because any structure that small, without plumbing or electricity, doesn’t need a building permit, Willmer said.
He believes a solution will be found. “San Jose figured their way around this,” Willmer said. “In a crisis, you’ve got to do things differently.”
“Anything that gets people out of the elements and sleeping rough is a very positive first step,” said Chris McEvoy, manager of homelessness prevention at the Region of Waterloo.
But it’s not clear how the initiative fits in with the overall regional housing policy, he said, until bylaw and zoning issues are sorted out. The region has to be able to assure the province and federal government that emergency shelters meet all sorts of regulations, and the ultimate oversight of the settlement still needs to be worked out, he said.
Kitchener is “monitoring the situation and co-ordinating on high-priority life safety considerations such as smoke detectors to ensure the safety of occupants,” said city spokesperson Shawn Falcao.
“The conversations have been open and productive,” Falcao said, adding that Kitchener “recognizes that this is serving an immediate need during the pandemic.”
The city, region and the project organizers must collaborate on a longerterm solution, Falcao said. “The City of Kitchener will do its part,” he said, adding that its affordable housing strategy is due later this year.
Community response has been positive, with more than $45,000 in cash donations, as well as donations of food and other items. The site does not need household items, clothing or furniture. Donations of toiletries, food and cash are welcome. Contact abtc@waterlooregion.org.
Another site on King Street East near Borden Avenue had earlier been considered for the settlement, but is no longer under consideration, Willmer said.