Tiny home project part of Winnipeg mayoral candidate Rick Shone's housing plan

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Rick Shone says the city should build a tiny homes village to reduce homelessness and increase the amount of affordable housing in the city.

He also promised that if he's elected next week, he'll work with city council to provide vacant land and funding to build the project as part ofhis housing and homelessness plan.

"We are missing this really short-term transition from shelters to permanent housing," he said in an interview on Wednesday.

"Right now, permanent housing is the ultimate solution. But it does take time and quite a bit more money to build, and these tiny homes allow people to transition and actually kind of relearn how to be housed againin the meantime."

Each unit would cost about $13,000, and the city could fit about 100 of them on a roughly half-hectare (one-acre)lot, Shone said.

Shone said he had been working withPallet Shelter, a public benefit corporation based in the U.S. state of Washington. The units would only contain room for a bed, some shelves and a closet.

He said he would seek to partner with other organizations to help run the projectand provide services like mental health and addictions supports.

Other mayoral candidates have called for the city to build temporary shelters as a way to address homelessness.

Scott Gillingham has said he'd transform six city-owned vacant lots into modular housing units to help people experiencing homelessness.

Kevin Klein promised to put trailers on city-owned land as temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness and to ask the province to provide social services staff to help those people find permanent housing.

Shone's housing proposal also calls for more funding for 24/7 safe spaces, expediting the permitting process and reducing costs for organizations looking to build transitional and affordable housing.

• Read more from the CBC on the 2022 Winnipeg election

Shone, Gillingham and Klein are among 11 candidates for mayor. Idris Adelakun, Rana Bokhari, Chris Clacio, Shaun Loney, Jenny Motkaluk, Glen Murray, Robert-Falcon Ouellette and Don Woodstock are also running.

Advance voting is open at Winnipeg's city hall untilFriday. Election day is on Oct. 26.