Portsmouth Olympic Harbour sleeping cabins project extended, future remains uncertain

Kingston's Portsmouth Olympic Harbour sleeping cabin program is looking for a new location to call home before its extended May 17 deadline.

The occupants of sleeping cabins at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour (POH) in Kingston, Ont., can stay where they are for a few more weeks.

Without a new location secured to continue to pilot program, the tiny homes were set to be put into storage at the end of the month — but council agreed to an extension.

“I think it gives staff an adequate time to work on a more permanent solution,” said Councillor Jim Neill during the Tuesday city council meeting. “But it doesn’t force out those 10 people who are currently living in the sleeping cabins.”

While many community members and local politicians have called the program a success, there is still a lot of uncertainty over what will happen to the homes and the people who live there.

“I can’t do this again, I just can’t. I don’t have the strength anymore to do it,” says sleeping cabin resident Barry Shea at the prospect of being relocated.

A retired PSW, Shea has been living on the streets for about 10 years.

He gets choked up thinking about the possibility of losing the first place that he’s called home in ages.

“I think everybody that lives here, all the residents, it pretty much saved their lives,” Shea says. “I like it here, I really do. This is the one place I have called home in a long time.”