Thunder Bay’s ongoing decision-making process regarding the
location of a tiny homes village to house the homeless took yet another turn this week
with the final site selected – again – but not the 114 Miles Street East site. It is now the Hillyard site off Central Avenue in the intercity area adjacent to the off leash dog park. Council has spoken but this has
become a process of musical sites. The site selection process has moved across
several other tries at establishing a tiny homes village first on Miles
Street (which is separate from another project by Alpha
Court), then in Intercity,
and then on Cumberland
Street, then the Kam
River Heritage site, then back to Miles Street and now the Hillyard
site.
In a 7-6 decision, this is the “final” choice “and
will not need to come back to council. Unless staff discover barriers in the
process of developing the site, which Collin said could include significant
unanticipated objections from the public, the shelter village will be built at
that location.” Needless to say,
this is probably not over yet as one suspects that a treed area that contains a
walking trail and off leash dog park using by local dwellers off Beverly Street and that is remote from the services the
homeless are supposed to be able to access will be costly to develop. The area does not appear to have immediately accessible water, electricity or
transit. This will take time and given
the other tiny
homes project in the south core is being delayed, encampments will be
around for quite some time.
A couple of things come to mind about this process. First, it is obvious that while everyone maintains
that they wants to solve homelessness in Thunder Bay, no one wants a highly
visible tiny homes shelter complex next to them. When tucking it away on the Kam River Park
did not work out, hiding it in the industrial/commercial urban wasteland that
is intercity seems acceptable to many – for now. Whether or not it can actually work is a challenge for future decision making. We obviously do not want a future without challenges for our local councillors.
Second, when opposing these types of projects, it helps to
have a strong neighborhood association or BIA (Business Improvement Area) to
advocate for you. While the traditional urban core areas such as Fort William, Port Arthur or
Westfort, have BIAs, the intercity industrial/commercial nexus does not. After all, they have never needed organized
lobbying given that they were the central and natural economic hub in the wake
of amalgamation. I expect they will be
organizing very soon. The business owners in the area were likely not consulted
and one suspects that the assorted business interests in the area are not going
to be amused by the additional security measures they will need to take to
secure their grounds from assorted urban foragers in an area already prone to break-ins
and trespassing.
In the end, even if these tiny homes are built – given their
location away from services - one suspects take-up will be limited and
encampments in their current locations will persist and even grow given the state
of the expensive rental housing market in Thunder Bay. There is actually not a shortage of housing
in Thunder Bay given the numerous projects that have been springing up but a
shortage of affordable housing. Rents
from one-bedroom apartments in these new builds which have no doubt received numerous
incentive payments from government to build are in the $2000 a month range.
The ultimate solution here is not tiny homes but a program
of social housing accompanied with more direct take up measures. After all, once social housing is built and
people have a place to go, it will be difficult to remain at large camping in
public areas. As outlined in a previous
blog post: “Given the private sector does not appear to be either
capable or willing to provide new build affordable housing and given the amount
of money that is being spent simply for tiny homes, there can be a public
sector role in longer term housing solutions.
There needs to be more social housing – administered by the District of
Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB) and funded by the City
of Thunder Bay, the Provincial and the Federal governments with local groups
(such as Alpha Court as well as Indigenous organizations) in partnership. The partnership approach is key and has been
noted by others. Small apartment style
buildings providing social housing and geared to income units need to be built
in multiple locations throughout the city with city owned and other public land
in the downtown cores and city being possible locations.”
You are looking at 3-4 storey buildings with small apartment
style units and the ground floor housing social support services and security. Such
housing spread out across assorted urban core areas close to services will also
blend in better with surroundings. Tiny homes are not a solution that appears
palatable to people in Thunder Bay.
Social housing is the way to go even if probably more expensive. In the absence of social housing, the only
other approach would be for the city to use the funds it was planning for tiny
homes to simply rent apartments for the homeless in existing buildings. Good
luck with that.
