Oddly enough, sometimes posting what is happening is the most difficult to do, simply because so much is happening. I always chuckle to myself when someone asks me what is new, I think you really don’t what to know because it could take hours to bring you up to speed. Anyway, here goes:
- I have been working on numbers to determine the size of a bio-digestor to process waste in a Tiny Town. Using data from toilet manufacturers, I have calculated that a town at startup would produce on average 15 cubic metres of waste per day and a town at capacity around 1,250. As much of this is water, further investigation is required to determine if this needs to be separated before processing. I still would like to try and determine what quantity of NG that may be produced based on these numbers.
- I participated in the Ontario BudgetTalks in Ottawa on Tuesday. Although my proposal did not make it into the shortlist for this year, I feel that participating in the talks helped me gain a better understanding of the process and will allow me to create better proposals moving forward.
- I am working on a Canada-wide survey to collect data on Canadians’ perspective on Tiny Homes. The intent is to gain an understanding of Canadians feelings about tiny as a housing option and to expand awareness of our association’s purpose. Here are some of the questions we have come up with so far:
- Do you know what a Tiny House is? Yes | No
- If Yes: Have you considered living in a Tiny House? Yes | No
- If Yes: If a town was created for Tiny Homes within commuting distance of where you live now, would you consider moving to a Tiny House in a Tiny Town? Yes | No
- If Yes: What do you think would be a reasonable monthly rent for a site in a Tiny Town that included: utilities, TV, internet, etc? $600 | $500 | $400 | $300 | $200 per month
- If Yes: Would you buy or build a tiny home? Buy | Build
- If Buy: What would you expect to pay for a Tiny Home?
less than $60,000 | around $60,000 | more than $60,000
If Build: What do you expect it would cost to build a Tiny Home?
less than $40,000 | around $40,000 | more than $40,000 - Would you need to finance a Tiny Home? Yes | No
- Do you think there should be government standards that certify the liveability and safety for Tiny Homes? Yes | No
- If Yes: Would you buy and live in a Tiny Home that was not certified if it was built by:
A company: Yes | No
An individual: Yes | No - Would you hesitate to buy a Tiny Home that was CSA certified? Yes | No
- I spoke with CSA the other week to determine the process to develop a Tiny Home Standard. They are speaking with the government to see if there is another initiative planned to address tiny homes or whether developing a set of CSA standards would be preferable. I hopefully will get some feedback on this next week.
- We have been working with #GreenTerraHomes to design our model home for our ARTO program, the Logan32 (named after the largest mountain in Canada). We have a basic design and are looking forward to ordering one for our 2018 tour.
- We are in the process of revamping the Transitional Housing Program into the ARTO Program. We are working on repackaging the program to more closely fit with existing government affordable housing programs. The ARTO Program will allow program participants to own their own Tiny Home after providing community service house in Tiny Towns over a 10 year period.
- We have opened the Advisory Board Discussion forum to encourage more discussions from all members on the topics posted and to allow all association members to post topics. Please participate in topics of interest.
- We are looking at redesigning the Association website’s homepage to provide easier access to areas of interest and making links to more frequently updated information more accessible. Stay tuned.
- We have been working on drafting a request for corporate sponsors to support the 2018 tour. More details to follow.
- We have been working on the 2018 Tiny Home Town tour. This tour is planned to take a Logan32 on the road to various events and cities across Canada to raise awareness of tiny home living and our Tiny Town initiatives. More details to follow.