There is a woman, named Fred, who is currently living homeless in the Hamilton community. I don’t know what brought her to this, or why she has decided that it is safer here than in a shelter, but I thought, lets help her. I also thought, there are others who would feel the same.

As you all know, I have some expertise in the tiny houses, so I went out to the building supply places in the community and did the math. A little bit of money and some elbow grease and we could build her a 4×8 shelter with a door and a lock.   I know this is not ideal, by any means, but it is a HUGE improvement over the ten pallets that she has leaned together.

I stopped to speak to her today, and ask her if she would want a tiny house.  She said that she would love that.  Then I think it was too much for her to hope for and she said that there are a lot of people who are full of shit like me.  I guess she has earned the right to be suspicious. I think it is rough for people who don’t have a safe home.

So, I think we should just simply build her one.

Here is the list of NEEDS (tax roughly figured in):

36 2×4’s is about $100.

18 sheets of thin plywood for the inside and outside is about $400,

1 thick sheet of plywood for the floor is about $50.

A keyed entry is about $20.

A 1×4 sheet of steel for the roof is about $50.

A door with a window that opens is about $250 (unless someone has one).

2 bags of insulation are around $100

Plastic vapor barrier is around $30

4 pieces trim for the door (to keep out wind and pests) is about $25.

Unused exterior paint can be picked up from the dump free

Screws, nails, staples about $30

2 pressure treated 4×4 x 10 rails to raise the structure off the ground $30

I think I am pretty spot on with these figures since I went to Rona, Home Depot and Lowes and got the lowest prices.  So what I figure is that $1085. would build her a tiny insulated shelter with a locked door.

BUT!

There are other things that would make this structure more comfortable and livable.

They are light, heat and a bed that can double as a seating area.

A decent solar powered LED shed light about $100

Roughly $650 would buy her a vented propane heater, vent, a propane tank and fuel.

We can build a bed for about $30 and a mattress is about $100.

A shelf, a few hooks, a butane cooker and some canisters about $100

So an additional $980 would get other things that would make her life more comfortable.

This would be a good hard day of work for a 4 or five people. Many hands make light work. People with cordless tools would be most appropriate but you don’t need to have these to be helpful.  I am hoping that the funds can be collected and I can find volunteers for the 19th and 20th of December.

Since there are always things that are forgotten and other things come up when you are building, I think that collecting $2K is the goal

The thing is, that even if I can’t get many people to chip in, I will still go ahead and do what I can with the money that I collect.  Lets make this happen!

What I am hoping for is something similar to this, but with a flat roof.

Here is the link for this crowd-funded project.

LINK

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Those who are already following the tiny house movement – that have been wanting to attend a tiny house workshop, here is your chance.  It would be nice if you threw $100 toward this cause, if you can attend on the 19th and or 20th of December.  This is a lot cheaper than a tiny house workshop, I am not selling anything and you will learn some hands on skills.  I am going to frame this up this weekend because I have already collected enough to get this started, so if you want to give a hand then, it would be awesome!

The question “Where can I build my tiny house in Ontario” comes to me over and over again from my readers and from people who happen on my tiny house blog or Facebook site.  The question is variable – it can mean where can I find a place to rent to put my house on wheels on?  To where can I build one on a foundation without being blocked by a building inspector?  Or it could mean where are places that I can get around the building code (as I have).

I cringe when I get these because the answer that I am forced to give is truly deflating.  Which is to say that I don’t know.

The fact is, each municipality sets its own rules.  Most have not honestly evaluated the issue of oversized housing in years and further to this, even if they had the leaders of these municipalities are under the huge misconception that large houses bring in a better and higher quality of citizenry.  This is, of course very far from the truth.  If people have to work less to pay their living expenses, they can volunteer more, spend more time in and for their community and their family.  They can travel more and have a better state of mind.  Tiny houses are NOT about evading tax.  I for one, am happy to pay taxes that are representative of the average of the community.  Tiny housers make excellent community members and would add greatly to the vitality of any community that they join.

Contrary to the misguided municipalities that make it impossible for us to settle amongst them we are not people who drain the tax base.  The tiny house movement is about living more and consuming less.  We are interested in living in sustainable and more ecologically aware housing.  That is all. Here is some information about who we are.

The tiny life http://thetinylife.com/tiny-house-infographic/

There have been some slivers of hope for us as the more educated municipalities begin to hear our call and bring themselves in line with Ontario’s 2011 Strong Communities Through Affordable Housing Act.

Here are some windows of hope:

Secondary Dwellings and in-law suites Ottawa

Edwardsburg/Cardinal on your own lot

Secondary dwellings AKA Garden Suites in townships north of Toronto

Secondary dwellings City of Kingston as well as Lennox and Addington 

ALMOST!!!  These folks are working on getting an intentional community together (10K investments needed)

Hamilton Ontario is working on legalizing secondary dwellings

IF YOUR ONTARIO COMMUNITY IS NOT ALLOWING SECONDARY UNITS THEY ARE NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW.  So if you want to build a tiny or small house on family or friends property, I suggest that you bring this up with your municipality!

Also, I have it on good authority that the municipality of Highlands East has lowered its footprint to 500 square feet.  This is not quite tiny but a right sized house for many!  [Perhaps the footprint could include a garage/storage/shed and so on, for those of you who strongly wish to maintain a tiny space???]

Thoughts on the 2011 act

And…

More questions answered here: 

Also the Unorganized townships offer something unique because you don’t need a permit.  However, one must know and follow the Canadian Building Code (which as I mention has no size restrictions.  If you are building up there though, keep in mind that you are probably going to want a couple of things done differently.  I think very thick walls, a good job on insulation and a closed porch on every door is important.  This is simply so that in the winter you don’t lose all your heat every time you open the door.  More on building in the unorganized townships here.

Other thank what I have shared now, there is no advise I can give expect to say, PLEASE DO check and work with your municipality.  The more they know about us the better.  You may not get the answers that you hoped for yet… but it is better to know before you have invested your money in a dream that can’t be seen to fruition due to the short sighted blocks of uneducated leaders.

Stay tiny!

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Please, if anyone hears or knows more about any specific municipality please let me know so that I can add this information for other hopeful tiny housers.  We are growing in numbers and there is power in that.  It is getting easier little by little.

Today I received a VERY promising comment here, at my blog, that I think is very important and worth sharing.

It is posted below, and I would invite you all to share your thoughts.   ((( PLEASE NOTE: I have edited to protect the identity of the writer.)  Hopefully we can all work on this together to make another aspect of tiny house living easier for ourselves and those who come after us.  (UPDATE: PLEASE NOTE!!!  NONE OF US SHOULD DO THIS SOLO!  IF AN APPLICATION IS DENIED BY THE MINISTRY, NO ONE CAN PUT IN ANOTHER SUBMISSION ON THIS TOPIC FOR FIVE YEARS!!!!)

A place to go!

Thank you for this information. I am passionate about clean water and finding ways to produce less black water. I feel that composting toilets need to be the way of the future. However it is obvious that lawmakers still have no understanding of the potential of composting toilets for improvements in water quality given that there is still a requirement for all dwellings to hook up to sewage infrastructure. However, there is a law in Ontario called the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), overseen by the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO)  *****************, which gives residents greater access to environmental decision-making. One of the tools in the EBR is an Application for Review with which it is possible to ask for a review of a current law or to request a new one. It is quite a powerful tool and one that could be used in many ways. One of the options that potentially exists for tiny-housers would be to file an Application for Review asking the government for a Policy or Regulation on composting toilets. This could be a very important undertaking for a variety of reasons including the fact that currently the Province does not have adequate ways to deal with the ‘septage’ pumped out of septic tanks and which essentially in the case of these garden suites, people are being asked to use. If someone else was passionate about this issue and of removing barriers to tiny living, accessing the information about Rights under the EBR on the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario’s website and perhaps reading what the ECO has said about septage in the past.

Signed *********

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Here is the link to rights

Has anyone found andy info on the sites about septage???