N.S. tiny home community could be 'fundamental answer' to homelessness crisis

As the flurries fly in Lower Sackville, N.S., the winter chill is slightly less harsh for tenants in the tiny home community.

That’s because for some, affording the rental market isn't an option.

“I would never be able to,” says Sharon MacDonald, the community’s first tenant.

After moving out of a long-term rental in June due to bullying in her building, she ultimately had nowhere else to go.

“I pitched a tent in Mira Gut. And the first night I lay there, and I couldn't get up, so I emptied out my car, decided to try to sleep in the back of that, and my back and my knees wouldn't tolerate that,” she said.

The tiny home community is one of the initiatives funded by the province in response to the homelessness crisis, at a $9-million construction cost, with nearly $1 million in annual operations funding.

The 60 units are a partnership between multiple levels of government and the private sector, including The United Way.

“We want to make sure that individuals are successful here and to prove the model works,” says Joe Rudderham, executive director of the Atlantic Community Shelters Society. “I don't think that's a huge a huge task whatsoever.”

The society is offering on-site wraparound support services.

“It’s incredibly warming to know that you are helping individuals who have very specific needs and… going from, for example, from an encampment into tents, certainly through winter,” he says, “and to be able to be living in this small, tiny home which has all the comforts that an individual needs. They're all self-sufficient.”

Minister of Opportunities and Social Development Scott Armstrong wasn’t available for an interview on Friday, but in a statement he said the province is committed to funding supports for homelessness.

“(The tiny home) project is a testament to what can be achieved when the public and private sector work together to help those experiencing homelessness find affordable housing and the support they might need.”

But it's a model that needs expansion, according to Rudderham.

“Oh, 100 per cent,” he says. “That's why this is so important. I mean, we want to make sure that individuals are successful here and to prove the model works. I don't think that's a huge a huge task whatsoever.”

Twenty-four people currently live in the community, but that number is expected to grow to about 65 in the coming weeks.

“We need more of (this model) because it's a great stepping stone to get people off the streets, to rehabilitate,” says Rob Monk, another tenant of the community. “These guys are here to help you.”

The stability allows MacDonald to focus on the future – and be optimistic about 2025.

“It's amazing,” she says. “I'm just going to continue what I'm doing paying rent, doing my volunteer work, trying to help others.”

And more options like this could lead to big impacts on the homelessness crisis.

“I think it's a fundamental answer in how we actually solve the problem,” Rudderham says.

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