Guelph tiny home group wants to help city create sanctioned encampment

A group in Guelph, Ont., says it wants to help the city create a tiny home encampment to help people experiencing homelessness.

The Tiny Homes Bridging Coalition is a collection of advocates who came together last month as a response to the homeless and housing crisis, and who are trying to set up a hybrid shelter in Guelph before next winter. 

They're still in the early stages of realizing the idea, but have already secured two acres of land for it. 

"This is just one model of many required needed solutions, right," group spokesperson Mike Marcolongo said

Marcolongo had visited A Better Tent City in Kitchener and the Erbs Road shelter in Waterloo — both of which house 50 or more people experiencing homelessness. They drew inspiration from those projects and from the residents there.

"These are mothers, brothers, sisters," Marcolongo said. "They're community members."  

The group was born out of a shared feeling of "unfairness and hopelessness" among the members, and it's timing is important because the issue of homelessness is growing in the community, Marcolongo said.

In Guelph-Wellington, there were at least 270 people experiencing homelessness as of Oct. 2021, according to a survey done by the county and the Guelph-Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination. 

Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie has said he'll use his strong mayor powers to get staff to look into what it'd take to build a structure encampment site in the city to address the homeless crisis.

'Hoping it's a temporary solution'

Marcolongo said he's aware there have been questions about how well the two encampments in Waterloo region are working because they haven't always transitioned people into more stable housing.

Marcolongo has no misgivings that an encampment is just a stop gap, but believes that they need to have something to transition to and this would be a temporary solution.

"That's what we're striving for. We need to address the housing crisis and that means building supportive, building geared to income, building additional housing supply to address the current housing crisis," he said.

Marcolongo said it's also about more than giving people a place to live.

"It's not just about warehousing folks, it's not just about providing them with a warm place," Marcolongo said. "It's also about building community." 

Hopes of collaboration with city

Marcolongo commended Guthrie on his announcement to explore sanctioned encampments, and is hoping to collaborate with the city on an official level if they go forward with the idea. He says he has met with the mayor to discuss their ideas.

The group has also been speaking with Coun. Phil Allt to understand the logistics of kickstarting a project like this, and Allt said he's "quite supportive" but stressed that he's not speaking on behalf of the city.

"I've been able to offer assistance with Mr. Marcolongo's efforts in connecting him with business people who might be supportive as well," Allt said.

If they are unable to collaborate with the city in the end, Marcolongo said the group will instead rely on fundraising. 

This work is taking place as Guelph city councillors mull a public space use bylaw, which would limit where people could put up tents and structures within the city. A special council meeting is being held Wednesday to discuss the bylaw. That meeting begins at 10 a.m.