Plan for temporary tiny-home village in Victoria made of shipping containers gets closer to reality

Victoria is one step closer to building a tiny-home village out of shipping containers to temporarily house people in need, according to the city's mayor and a local non-profit involved in the project.

Our Place Society announced Monday its staff will manage the proposed supportive housing project, which could soon be located inacity-owned parking lot at940 Caledonia Ave. If completed, it could house 30 people in as many units, made out of 15 shipping containers, by the end of the month.

The village would help with the city and province's plan to moveall unhoused Victoria residents indoors by March 31. According to Mayor Lisa Helps, who spoke to CBC's On The Island onWednesday, the project is "very likely" to go ahead.

The tiny home concept began in December when Aryze Developments and the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness started a crowdfunding effort to help pay for the the project, eventually raisingnearly half a million dollars.

Each micro-home will have a floor size of around 100 square feetand will be equipped with a bed, desk, chair, wardrobe and fridge. They will haveelectricity but no cooking capacity;residents will have meals delivered and willalso have access to a common area to cook and reheat food. Showers and washrooms will becommunal.

"It will just be a simple home, but a home nonetheless," saidJulian Daly, CEO of Our Place in an interview on CBC's On The Island on Tuesday.

The point of the homes, which Daly expects will be onthe Caledonia Avenue site until September 2022, is ultimately to move people intopermanent housing by having staff work with each resident to create a tailor-made transition plan.

That plan, said Daly, would look at the individual's health and financial and employment needs to help them not only secure permanent housing, but also keep it something Daly said is very hard for people struggling with poverty, addiction and mental health issues.

The site will be staffed 24/7 and have security guards posted on the perimeter at night. All residents will be able to lock their units and no guests will be allowed.

Helps said council has already unanimously approved permit applications from Aryze and the Coalition and the next step for the city will be to hear from the public on March 18.

"We would be very hard pressed to turn that one down," said Helps about the plausibility of the project moving forward.

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