Thunder Bay is building its first tiny home village. Advocates say the key to success is a sense of community

It's a cycle Nicole Latour sees on a regular basis: people being moved from homeless encampments in Thunder Bay, Ont., and into apartments, only to end up living in tents again.

The problem? They're gaining a roof over their head but losing their sense of community, she explained.

"The model that we currently have where we take people out of communal living situations, encampments, and house them independently in an apartment unit away from their peers — we're finding that that's not working for everybody, that we needed to look outside of the box and introduce a new model to the community."

The solution? Creating transitional housing with tiny homes.

Latour is executive director of Alpha Court Community Mental Health and Addiction Services. Last month, the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board (TBDSSAB) announced $3.8 million in funding for the organization.

The money comes through the province's Homelessness Prevention Program and will support the creation of 16 tiny home units at 212 Miles St. E. on the city's south side. The program is supporting the creation of 66 new transitional housing units in Thunder Bay this year across three organizations.

In November, Thunder Bay's city council voted against creating a temporary shelter village with between 80 and 100 units on Miles Street East for people experiencing homelessness. The project received considerable criticism from business owners in the area, and city staff are exploring alternative locations.

"The main difference is when you talk about amenities," Latour said of how tiny homes differ from the temporary shelter village.

The tiny homes will each come with a full bathroom, kitchen and sleeping quarters, she said, while the temporary shelters are more like sleeping cabins meant to temporarily get people out of the elements.

The homes are being built locally, with hopes of moving people into them by August.

A number of communities across Canada have been exploring similar structures as a way of easing the housing crisis while using a smaller footprint, from Peterborough's modular cabins to a tiny home community in Lower Sackville in Nova Scotia.

The biggest challenge Latour encountered with the project was finding serviceable land, she said.

"We know that there's a shortage of serviceable land, residential serviceable land, so where you can find land, you need to take advantage of it," she said.

Residents will receive case management support on-site to help them build the skills they need to live independently and achieve their goals, such as education, employment or recovery from addiction, Latour said.