Peterborough sets up modular cabins to provide temporary shelter for unhoused people

A private cabin framed in steel has provided a mea‐ sure of stability for one res‐ ident of a new community for unhoused people in Pe‐ terborough, Ont.

"I love it. It's great. I got lots of security, you know, people that care," said the resident, 45, who didn't want her name used to avoid stig‐ ma.

"The workers are great here and if you need any‐ thing, they're right there."

A mother of five children, aged 15 to 27, the resident said living in Peterborough's Modular Bridge Housing Community is better than being in an encampment.

"It was scary at night. A lot of fighting, a lot of weapons, a lot of drugs. Terrible, terri‐ ble, terrible. Not enough food. Just couldn't wash up. Couldn't do much of any‐ thing - feed yourself or even leave your tent. You'd have to bring everything you own with you," she said.

"I'd wake up crying be‐ cause I'd be so cold."

The resident is one of 50 unhoused people selected to live in the units on a former parking lot after Peterbor‐ ough decided the 106square-foot modular cabins, arranged in four rows, were one way to address what it calls its "unprecedented" problem of homelessness. City staff say there are chal‐ lenges to running the site three months after it opened, but there have been signs of success, too.

"Modular bridge housing is an important tool in the city's overall strategy to end‐ ing chronic homelessness," the city says on its website.

The city, located roughly 140 kilometres northeast of Toronto, says there are more than 230 unhoused people in the city and surrounding county, a number that in‐ cludes people staying in shel‐ ters and couch surfing. An estimated 40 people of that number are sleeping rough.

Across the province, cities and towns are trying to de‐ velop solutions to get people out of encampments. Peter‐ borough and its partner agencies looked at similar projects in other communi‐ ties, including an outdoor shelter in Waterloo Region, Kitchener's A Better Tent City and Kingston's sleeping cab‐ ins pilot program.

'It's worth every dollar,' mayor says

Peterborough Mayor Jeff

Leal says the city invested in modular homes because it wanted a comprehensive so‐ lution to homelessness. He said there was one large en‐ campment, plus many small‐ er ones, throughout the city.

"I fundamentally believe that a country as rich as Canada and a province as rich as Ontario shouldn't have people in tents in the middle of winter," Leal said.

Leal said the investment is worth the money because it will keep people out of emer‐ gency rooms and put less of a strain on the health care system.

"It's worth every dollar. These are human lives. By making this new investment, we are going to put individu‐ als on a new trajectory in life," he said.

Operating costs of project pegged at $1.9M an‐ nually

A staff report that went to Peterborough city council on Monday said building the modular housing community cost more than $2.4 million, while operating the site is ex‐ pected to cost more than $1.9 million annually. Peter‐ borough received $2.5 mil‐ lion for the project from the province in 2023 through its Homelessness Prevention Program. The project is fun‐ ded for two years.

The site, which opened in November, contains roundthe-clock security. The Eliza‐ beth Fry Society of Peterbor‐ ough operates the site, while Finally a Home, a subsidiary of the Peterborough Housing Corporation, manages the site as the landlord.

There is a security hub, washrooms and showers separate from the units, and a service room. One of the 50 units has a toaster, toaster oven and microwave. Laun‐ dry is done off site. An indoor community space, which will include a kitchenette and laundry facilities, is not open yet.

Each unit, which costs $21,150 to build, comes with a bed, bedding, mini fridge, smoke alarm, personal heater, air conditioning unit, and storage space. The units are side by side, with a door at the front and a window at the back.

The units are meant to be transitional housing. Dinner is provided daily and residen‐

ts have to agree to "personal‐ ized care plans" through which they set individual goals with the aim of stabiliz‐ ing themselves, maintaining their housing and employ‐ ment and staying healthy.

The staff support the resi‐ dents in reaching their goals and connecting them to agencies in Peterborough, the report says.

City reports 'early suc‐ cesses' with project

There have been "early successes," according to the report, including only four emergency service calls with‐ in the project's first 10 weeks, a number it says show stabil‐ ity when compared with "en‐ campment scenarios." The report says residents were able to stabilize themselves within weeks of moving into the community.

"When people move from chronic homelessness into housing, there is often a peri‐ od of destabilization for indi‐ viduals. In the modular com‐ munity, people who moved into the community quickly adapted to their new homes, showcasing positive mental and physical improvements within days," the report says.

Residents moved into the units in November.

There are currently 47 res‐ idents on site, with some units being used by staff. Six have already been kicked out, five of whom were evicted for reasons related to violence.

Once a resident leaves, another resident moves in. Some of the residents are working full-time.

Residents, who are tenan‐ ts, pay their Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program shelter allowance, a rent that's geared to their in‐ come, or a percentage of their income from employ‐ ment.

The resident interviewed by CBC Toronto pays $556 a month.

She said she lived in a tent for about three months after her husband, a farmer more than 20 years her se‐ nior, died following a car crash. She became homeless because she couldn't afford rent.

Currently, she is addicted to fentanyl but is working to get off the drug with the help of a program. She said she hopes to overcome her ad‐ diction to improve her rela‐ tionship with her children.

Claire Belding, manager of client services for the Eliza‐ beth Fry Society of Peterbor‐ ough, said many of the resi‐ dents are coming out of "sur‐ vival mode" after being un‐ housed for a long time. She said there are wraparound services and collaboration from many different service providers.

"I think this model allows service users independence and autonomy," she said. "We want to meet people where they're at and we want to support them just to be safe."

Belding said there are rules, including no guests be‐ tween 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and zero tolerance for vio‐ lence. If residents use drugs on site, they are encouraged to let the staff know so that they can check on them.

Belding said the ultimate goal is to find the residents permanent housing, she said.

"I'm just really immensely proud of these residents to see what they have faced and to come in here to be willing to participate in this model. It's very hard," she said.

"We have a lot of regula‐ tions, a lot of rules around our occupancy agreements because we have to keep everybody on site safe and they've adapted and thrived."

Not a solution for hous‐ ing, city staff person says

Jessica Penner, project manager from the city of Pe‐ terborough, said the modular bridge housing community is a temporary way to address homelessness in the city. She said the program fits a need.

"I think we have to contin‐ ue to remember that this is‐ n't a solution for housing," she said. "This is one piece of a larger puzzle where we need lots of different options for different people."

Penner said the city runs a liaison committee to hear concerns from the commu‐ nity. She said there was an encampment on the site of the modular housing com‐ munity and the city moved the encampment across the street to allow for construc‐ tion of the site.

As for next steps, the re‐ port says city staff will moni‐ tor the project and evaluate it, work on early successes, learn from similar communi‐ ties, and draft a plan for what happens after the two-year term of the project ends on Nov. 30, 2025.