Emergency shelter in Thunder Bay, Ont., opts for modular units in supportive housing project
CBC
WARNING: This story contains references to domestic violence and abuse.
An emergency shelter for survivors of abuse in Thunder Bay, Ont., is working with Smart Modular Canada to create new supportive housing units.
Faye Peterson House, a program of Crisis Homes Inc., operates a 26-bed shelter for women, gender-diverse people and their children in the city’s north end. There, clients receive essential supplies as well as counselling, programming and other services.
Since 2016, the non-profit organization has been exploring ways to build housing for clients who are no longer in an immediate crisis but still need on-site support.
“We would be able to transfer them to the units and to extend our support — sort of our circle of care — to the survivors that will then be living with us in this supportive housing,” said Debbie Zweep, executive director of Faye Peterson House.
Initially, Zweep applied to the city through an expression of interest to build bricks and mortar units from the ground up. However, the cost went from about $3.2 million up to $10 million by 2023.
That’s when Zweep decided to look into using modular units, instead. As a member of Thunder Bay’s tiny homes committee, she began to learn more about Smart Modular Canada, a modular home builder in Thunder Bay that offers a range of custom designs.
She also visited Hammarskjold High School, where students receive support from the company and community partners to build a tiny home as part of their curriculum.
“We saw a couple of projects in progress,” Zweep said, “and we thought ‘we can make this work this way. We're pretty sure we can get funding.’”
“Modular building is not just for ‘tiny or eco homes.’ It is a style of building where the structure is broken down into parts or modules,” Smart Modular Canada explained on its Facebook page.
In this case, 10 modules will be assembled to form an eight-plex, Zweep said.
Besides the cost savings, another benefit of opting for modular units is that they can be ready much quicker. While DRD Construction Services prepared the site, Smart Modular Canada was building the units at its facility.
“Now the site is ready, the utilities are all ready and now the units can be added to the base and then all the exterior work completed,” said Zweep.
“We'll have done the project in under a year — we started in June as far as building is concerned — and we hope to be finished by the end of March.”
E-bike and e-scooter riders in Toronto may soon have a new obstacle in their path, with one city councillor proposing police confiscate their electric mobility devices if they're caught riding on the sidewalk.
Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie used strong mayor powers to change the 2026 and future city budgets and reinstate winter maintenance of bike lanes.
The N.W.T. government has taken some water fixtures out of service at another school in the territory, due to elevated lead levels in the water.
An end-of-year holiday message sent to Fanshawe College employees did not bring much optimism about the future, as the school's president says all full-time employees are being offered a way out of their jobs.
U.S. President Donald Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles, widely regarded in Washington as the quiet power behind the throne, spoke candidly about some of the administration's shortcomings and delivered a frank assessment of the people around the president in a rare, wide-ranging series of interviews published Tuesday by Vanity Fair.
Residents of Fogo Island, Change Islands and other parts of central Newfoundland remain without power Tuesday evening following hurricane-force gusts early Tuesday morning, with some areas nearing 20 hours without heat and light.
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge signed off on the $235-million bid from a John Bragg-owned company for the Northern Pulp timberlands during a hearing Tuesday.
The federal and New Brunswick provincial governments have signed an agreement to better co-ordinate their environmental impact assessments.
Montreal police say their hate crimes unit is investigating after an Uber driver reported being threatened by a passenger with an edged weapon during a ride earlier this month, an incident the National Council of Canadian Muslims says has raised concerns about increasing Islamophobic violence.
Winnipeg’s executive policy committee voted Tuesday to approve a series of last-minute changes to the city’s 2026 budget.
Blizzard conditions are expected across much of Saskatchewan on Wednesday morning, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
After a blast of freezing rain and brutal cold, much of Alberta is now bracing for another wintery storm that has forecasters cautioning of blizzard conditions.
A Chilliwack, B.C., mother was killed by a falling tree while visiting a local park with her kids Monday afternoon, police say.