[ad_1]
In a structure the size of a small bedroom, Bella and Michael have created a home for themselves, their dog and cat.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
The bunks that were to be beds are big storage shelves, replaced by one double bed. Heater, air conditioner, television, art work and a cat ignoring visitors are all in their places in a 100-square-foot (nine-square-metre) standalone structure.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
The walls are all whiteboards and one inside panel at the door announces in colourful markers that this is Bella and Michael’s place, with a list of chores written underneath.
“It’s our own little corner,” Bella says. “We’re OK here.”
The tiny home will do fine for now, with meals, showers and washrooms in the main building a few feet away on Unity Project property on Dundas Street.
Unity Project service provided a glimpse Friday of its latest re-iteration – a post pandemic, renovated main facility and the addition of tiny homes on its back and front parking lots.
“It’s fitting we are back at our home base today,” Silvia Langer, director of development for Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness, said Friday to small gathering of politicians, funders and The London Free Press.
Friday was the 20th anniversary of Unity Project shelter opening, and 22nd anniversary of the tent city that led to the shelter’s creation.
By the time time the pandemic hit in 2020, Unity Project was operating a 37-bed shelter, with 22 beds in dorm-style rooms and 15 beds in the common spaces available at night on a first come, first served basis.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
The pandemic and distancing rules forced Unity Project to move out of its shelter and put people up in 40 hotel rooms, a program funded by provincial dollars under city hall direction.
Unity Project is looking for a new, larger facility, but in the meantime received funding from the city this past spring to renovate its main building and buy and build the small homes. The London Community Foundation provided money to add staff and evaluate the small home program.
Two dorm rooms in the main building have been turned into six double-occupancy rooms. Outside, 13 of the tiny homes have been built, also double occupancy and also for all genders and people with pets.
All the beds are for use 24/7, by referral only, but the shelter opens up drop-in space during heat and cold weather alerts.
The shelters are made by a Washington state company called Pallet, hence the name Pallet shelters, not to be confused with wooden pallets, or skids.
The two-bed shelters have insulated walls, personal climate controls for heating and air conditioning, locking doors and windows, built-in shelving, three electric plugs, interior LED lighting, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers and emergency exits, the company’s website says.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
It took only two hours for a construction crew, including a Pallet company worker, to put up the 13 structures at Unity Project in May.
Bella and Michael ended up in one of the structures after a year of being without a home, forced out by a landlord selling his house.
“There’s this misconception that you must have a mental disorder, or you must be an addict to be homeless, but there are a lot of people falling by the wayside because of housing right now,” Bella said.
She and Michael stayed for some time in a crowded motel with strangers coming and going all the time, an experience she calls horrible.
“You feel safe here. Everyone leans on each other. Everyone puts in an effort and makes it their own home. We could use more of them,” she said.
On a tour of her home, Bella points out the shades she made out of a paper folded fanlike and clipped at the bottom – it looks professionally made – and the whiteboard message board.
“You’re walking out and you see it right there,” she said.
There’s lots to do each day. As grateful as they are, Bella and Michael don’t want the tiny home to be their permanent solution.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
“We are usually out every day trying to move forward. The faster we move out the more people can get into here and maybe do the same thing,” she said.
The structures come with two single bunks. But Bella and Michael want to share their bed, so the inside was changed to move the bunks onto one wall and into shelves, allowing space for one double bed.
That kind of individual innovation is exactly one reason the structures can work so well, by providing people with choice in housing, Lazenby said.
“Different spaces may allow us to accommodate some behaviours that you can’t do in a shared space,” she added.
“One of the things about reducing the number of people in each room is we don’t have to ask people to leave as often, because we’re not hitting those conflict moments,” she said. “Think about 10 people in a room. There are a lot of conflicts and a lot of behaviour to manage.”
By operating only 24/7 rooms, Unity Project is no longer forcing some people to leave the shelter each day, Lazenby said.
“It doesn’t stabilize people when you’re telling them you have to pack up and head out,” she said.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
The shelter now allows drug use with some rules on site, another low barrier element.
“Having open conversations about drug use, we’ve actually responded to way less overdoses,” Lazenby said.
A formal evaluation of the Pallet program will begin in a year.
“It’s certainly something different for the community,” deputy mayor Shawn Lewis said after the tour. “We need to try different things because what we’ve been doing hasn’t been working.”
London has embarked on a new homelessness system, with the construction of 24/7 homeless hub/shelters and up to 600 highly supported housing units.
“Anybody who is willing to try something different is going to be very helpful to us getting long-term solutions,” Mayor Josh Morgan said.
Tiny homes aren’t for everyone, and they require a lot of space and a main building providing basic services, Lazenby said.
A new Unity Project shelter may or may not include them, but there’s room in London for every kind of home, she said.
“One thing we forget when talking about homelessness is that people deserve choice. When we pigeonhole people, it’s just not fair.”
Recommended from Editorial
[ad_2]
Source link