The Construction Association of P.E.I. is building these tiny homes in Charlottetown. They will eventually be moved to another site for affordable housing. (George Melitides/CBC)
Prince Edward Island has seen somewhat of a mini boom in the construction of tiny homes in recent months, as one route to easing the province's housing crunch.
The smaller-sized dwellings can be more affordable while they reduce an occupant's environmental footprint, and they've been touted as a possible solution to housing shortages in many parts of Canada.
The government of Ontario has a full guide to the rules that apply in that province on its website, noting: "Not only are they a great way to save on housing costs, they are also cheaper to build and maintain than a regular house."
For Islanders interested in trying out a tiny home, what does it take to actually have one built?
Just as with any other house, P.E.I.'s land use office needs to sign off on development and building permits for the proposed site and what's going to be built on it. So far, at least, the province has no formal definition of what a tiny home actually is.
Eugene Lloyd of the Department of Housing, Land and Communities says the province is pro-development, but there are some cases when a tiny home's location or features simply don't fit and an application is denied. (Victoria Walton/CBC)
"If it has a kitchen unit and a bathroom, it's considered a dwelling unit and we treat them the same way," said Eugene Lloyd, manager of development with the province's Department of Housing, Land and Communities, which approves where homes can go.
"We are working on some research across Canada and the U.S. to see how other jurisdictions deal with these tiny homes, but today we treat them the same. A tiny home has to have everything that a regular home does, right from structural support [to] insulation, ventilation, cooking features.”
The standards laid out in the National Building Code are applied to tiny homes the same as they are to regular homes on the Island, he said.
The land use office primarily signs off on builds in rural P.E.I., where there's no local government in place.
Tiny homes like this one in Stephenville, N.L., have been heralded as solutions to the housing crunch in many parts of Canada. (Sean Hickey/Facebook)
Municipalities can also apply their own zoning and building restrictions on dwelling units, and the City of Charlottetown does impose some restrictions. Homes below five metres wide with a minimum of 269 square feet of floor space must be "substantially assembled in a manufactured plant" and placed on a lot for year-round living.
By comparison, Summerside's zoning bylaw does not specify a minimum size for a single-family home as long as it meets the provincial Building Codes Act.
'It's either a home or an RV'
Though there's not a blanket ban, the land use office will have to deny an application for a tiny home if it doesn't meet provincial standards. No permit will be granted if there's a ladder instead of a staircase to access a loft space, for example, or a structure doesn't have a solid enough foundation or ties to protect it from blowing over in a windstorm.
In addition to tiny homes, P.E.I.'s chief building standards officer Jon MacDonald says his office is seeing more building permits for regular homes with smaller footprints. (Victoria Walton/CBC)
"The big thing to realize is that a tiny home is still a home. A tiny home has to have everything that a regular home does, right from structural support [to] insulation, ventilation, cooking features," said Jon MacDonald, P.E.I.'s chief building standards officer.
"The other thing that we see often is the belief that because they're building a tiny home on a trailer on wheels that it's more of an RV than a home and they can operate in that grey area — which really isn't the case. It's either a home or an RV."
Both the Construction Association of P.E.I. and some high school carpentry classes across the Island have been building tiny homes in recent months in order to add affordable units to the market.
The construction association's agreement with the province calls for up to 35 homes to be built and placed on an appropriate site or sites.
Housing Minister Rob Lantz said recently that the latest option involves creating a tiny home community, similar to a mobile home park, that could help people in need of affordable housing.
A tiny home from an Ontario government site laying out the rules that apply to them in that province. (Government of Ontario)
A Better Tent City houses more people in Ontario
A Better Tent City is a tiny home community in Kitchener, Ont. that has been considered by people in other communities as a good way to help people experiencing homelessness.
But the volunteers who run it say they need more money to support.
"We're writing grants constantly," volunteer Laura Hamilton told Region of Waterloo councillors this week at a committee meeting. "It's exhausting. Everybody's writing grants right now. We're doing the best we can."
A Better Tent City is located on land owned by both the city and Waterloo Region District School Board on Ardelt Avenue. It's largely run by volunteers with only a handful of staff members to help the 50 people who live there.
Since it was started in 2020, other communities have looked to what A Better Tent City has done to consider whether it's the kind of action they should take including Windsor, Hamilton, London and Winnipeg.
The group received $150,000 from the Region of Waterloo when it was first getting off the ground in early 2020, but no further funding since then.
Hamilton told councillors they run the community using funding they get from the people who live there who sign over their housing allowance from Ontario Works or Ontario Disability, which amounts to about $300,000 annually, and they receive about $80,000 in donations from the community.
As well, the United Way, The Food Bank of Waterloo Region and The Community Foundation have supported their efforts.
"We've become home for those for whom no other home has, or could be, provided and we need your support to help our residents to reclaim their dignity, find hope and begin to imagine a different future," Hamilton said.
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