Can tiny home communities solve the homelessness crisis?

Every city in Canada has struggled to solve the problem of homelessness, leading to a vicious cycle where tent cities spring up in public places, and then they’re subsequently removed, sometimes violently. But several cities are experimenting with a new transitional form of housing called tiny home communities, that provide temporary shelter to people who may otherwise end up in encampments or on the street.

Justin Chandler has reported extensively on tiny home communities as the Niagara-Hamilton reporter at TVO.org. He joins us to discuss how they function, and what different advocates say about their effectiveness.

“I think it’s something that people should be paying attention to and looking at, because if this is something that communities can get off the ground where they cannot get housing built, maybe this is a way that people can get into housing, and be safe, and not sleeping in bus shelters or under bridges,” he said.

So how do these communities work? What’s it like inside them? And can they really be a viable solution to a crisis that seems so intractable?

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