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February 23, 2002
A report on the Home Made
Solutions One-Day Workshop on Creating Housing Quickly
The
one-day workshop, ‘Home Made Solutions’, was held on February 23, 2002
at the North Toronto Memorial Community Centre from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm.
The attendance was much larger than expected - about 150 people - pointing
to the tremendous interest in the issue.
The morning began with three talks on the details of homelessness: Cathy
Crowe, street nurse and co-founder of the Toronto Disaster Relief
Committee; Stevie Cameron, journalist and coordinator of the Out-of-the
Cold Program at St. Andrew's Church; and Kathy Hardill, a street nurse at
Regent Park
Community Health Centre. They were followed by John Sewell discussing
government programs to maintain homelessness but not to provide housing;
Adam Vaughan, City TV reporter discussing various attempts to provide
housing including Tent City; and Rainer “DRI” Driemeyer, a resident of
Tent City disparaging the government's dishonest advertising that beds are
available for the homeless. Sessions were punctuated by comments,
questions and discussions.
At the lunch break there was the opportunity to look at and walk into the
small house constructed off site and brought on a flatbed truck to the
front of the community centre. The small house was designed by
Architects Alliance and was built by Jaan Poldaas, Henry Levy, and
Jonathan Borah with Tent City labour.
The house met the Building Code and contained a composting toilet,
shower, kitchen and living area. At the end of the day, the house was
delivered to Tent City and donated to a homeless couple who are currently
living in the house.
After lunch John van Nostrand outlined ways to provide pre-fabricated
housing quickly and inexpensively. The immediate short-term solution
is to put temporary small houses on land (in some cases permission to use
the land has not been sought). A structure's cost is $12,500 and the
cost of providing water, sanitation and energy another $6,500, for a
total of $19,000.
A medium term solution could involve a lease on a piece of land, a
permission which permits city services to be somewhat more regularized.
The total capital costs would be in the order of $22,400. Once there
is a lease legitimizing the small house, social assistance could be
received by the occupant and rent in the amount of $325 per month could be
paid to cover ongoing cost servicing.
A long term solution is to get a site where a fully serviced unit can be
installed for a capital cost - including land - at about $40,500. The
ongoing expenses would be $575 per month, so a rent of $575 would mean the
operation of the small house would break even.
John van Nostrand's presentation provoked considerable discussion. The
group broke into three smaller discussion groups that generated a number
of different ideas about what might happen next. The ideas were
noted and are now under consideration by the organizers of the workshop
with a view to creating an action plan. The following are the key
proposals:
1. Create a central agency to harness all those who wish to
contribute money or sponsor solutions to homelessness.
2. Start creative searches for land where small houses can be
located for temporary periods of time, such as parking lots, agency and
church land, or vacant land. Be as open as one can about what pieces
of land would be available for this kind of housing, perhaps by creating a
central registry.
3. Create a building society for low-income individuals to pool
their money and energy to create housing for members of the society.
These kinds of building societies exist in the Caribbean and other places.
4. Consider ways in which inexpensive ownership housing can be
created for households with low income.
5. Whenever a gathering or conference around housing takes place make sure
activities such as building a small house occur so that the event starts
to physically solve the housing shortage as well talks about it.
Please note: It has since been learned that, contrary to what had been said on
February 23, there is no zoning exemption for one or two temporary
dwellings on a lot - which unfortunately makes our challenges just a bit
larger.
The
workshop was sponsored by Christ-Church Deer Park, North Toronto Faith and
Justice Group, Project Warmth, POINT (People & Organizations in North
Toronto), and Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC).
There was also considerable support from numerous individuals and
organizations including: Adam Vaughan, Architects Alliance, Barry Burnett,
Bob Fugere, Canadian Tire Store -- 2681 Danforth Store, “DRI”, Capital
City Rent-All, Catherine Beaton, Generation PV Inc, Henry Levy, Howard
Watson, Jaan Poldaas, Joan and Patti Hanlon, Jonathan Borah, Jon
Alexander, John Sewell, Kathy Hardill, Lions Club of Toronto -- Beaches
Branch, Pascale Gourmet, Royal Home Care, Greater Toronto Clearinghouse,
Michael Giulioni, Nick van Nostrand, Stevie Cameron, Street Survivors, The
Furniture Bank, The Futon Store, The North Toronto Memorial Community
Centre, Tent City, Victor Willis, Village Building Supplies, and Walter
Seaton.
The
following presentations or background material are available on-line.
Cathy
Crowe presentation
Kathy Hardill presentation
John Sewell presentation
John van Nostrand background information
For more information,
contact TDRC at tdrc@tdrc.net
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