A little late this week, however this week’s community highlight is the Town of Kincardine, on the shores of Lake Huron in Bruce County, Ontario. We have been talking to the town and they have provided details on a 1.34-acre parcel that we have proposed putting 18-homes on, plus community center, storage lockers, gardens, a gazebo, firepit, centralized parking, and lots of green space for the citizens to enjoy. The community center will provide a community kitchen with dining area where citizens can share a meal, a lounge to gather with neighbours, co-working space, small business space, and a coffee shop.
This week’s community highlight is in the municipality of Val Rita-Harty, in the town of Val Rita. We have been talking to the municipality and they have provided details on a 2-acre parcel that we have proposed putting 24-homes on, plus community center, storage lockers, gardens, a gazebo, firepit, parking beside each home, and lots of green space for the citizens to enjoy. The community center will provide a community kitchen with dining area where citizens can share a meal, a lounge to gather with neighbours, co-working space, small business space, and a coffee shop.
After feedback from the community on our initial Elliot Lake community design, and informal consultation with Elliot Lake planning, building, emergency services departments, and city staff we have updated the plan to include a number of key features:
parking at each tiny home,
snow storage at the corners of the development,
82-homes in the community,
8-pocket neighbourhoods,
expanded 10,000 sq ft community center including:
solar/small wind generation rooftop,
commercial kitchen,
dining room,
coffee shop,
lounge,
artisans shops,
co-working space,
fitness center/yoga,
health clinic.
gazebos, community gardens (both flower & vegetable), picnic areas, firepits, community parks, greenhouse, community storage units,
bus shelter,
off-leash dog park.
Most features will be limited to community members, however some features will be accessible to the greater Elliot Lake community.
If you are looking for ways to address your local housing needs, tiny homes can be part of the solution in pocket communities, villages, and as ADUs. 67% of those in housing need fit the tiny home demographic of singles, couples and young families. Tiny homes can provide affordable, incremental, rapid housing. Please see the brochure for details on the 2nd annual, Tiny Home Show in Ancaster, ON July 27, 28 & 29. Municipal Day Brochure
1.5M homes by 2032 is an ambitious goal however, the alternative is more people living in friends’ spare rooms, their basements, on couches, and floors, or becoming homeless. While major developers are focused on the high-density, big city builds (the places with the highest need), rural Ontario’s housing crisis is set to explode.
The existing Ontario building industry completed 71,838 units in 2022. The problem is we needed 136,364-units to stay on plan to reach 1.5M homes. If the traditional builders can grow by 5% compounded annually, by 2032 we will only be short 480,000 units, most of which is expected to be in rural Ontario.
Our plan is to build tiny home communities across rural Ontario. The combination of traditional built homes, along with tiny homes, has the potential to meet the anticipated housing need by 2032. Tiny homes can address some of the singles, couples and 3-person household needs, while keeping us on track to absorb some of the big city shortage. We can either plan for it, or be surprised by it.
The following video looks at this plan and explains the numbers. Please share.
Today I presented the following video to the Canadian Rural and Remote Housing and Homelessness Symposium. The topic was how tiny homes and tiny home communities can address a portion of the housing needs in rural Ontario.
This is our initial concept for the Elliot Lake development. We are proposing a 96-home development, with a SmartHub community centre, greenhouses, orchards, fruit/vegetable/flower gardens, and lots of community greenspace. While only an early version, we wanted to share the vision. This community is on public transit, will have full municipal services, and be affordable for minimum wage earners.
We are excited to announce that the Elliot Lake Council unanimously voted to explore a micro/tiny/small home community development with the Tiny Town Association. Elliot Lake has become known as a retirement destination because of their community centric, affordable living lifestyle. We are happy they see the potential that our community model offers, expanding rapid housing options for singles, couples, both young and mature.
