Encourage Tiny House Communities

The recent fiasco with the Midfield Mobile Home Park shows us that we have a long way to go before we can get stable affordable housing in Calgary. Initially the city took over the private Midfield Park to prevent closure of the park and take care of the people. Over the years of owning the trailer park the city let the infrastructure crumble without doing any of the required maintenance and upgrading as required by private landlords in this city.

Now that the property has become degraded to slum status the city encouraged the tenants to move their homes to the many new mobile home parks that were to be developed. The city, however, failed in its duties to develop these parks, or even approve the zoning for these parks. This leaves the homeowners of the Midfield Park with no place to go. The city then gave the tenants eviction notices with the offer $10,000.00 to help move their $30,000 to $60,000 homes or leave them to be bulldozed.

Many of the residents were low or fixed income families and seniors that cannot afford the expense of relocating or finding new pricier accommodations. If the residents owned the property beneath them they would less likely be forced from their home. It is time City Council realized that citizens require affordable housing with the security of ownership. Land Use Bylaws need to change to accommodate the ever-increasing tiny house and mobile home market to be affordable and beneficial to the city.

In our last issue, we talked about the Advantages of Tiny House Communities that can benefit homeowners and the city. The city should also allow the division of current city lots into 4 and up to 8 multiple affordable lots. Since the city is looking for ways to create affordable housing, a tiny house community is the only option to become a property owner for low-income families.

 We, the citizens of Calgary, elected city council to be our representative to govern the city to the needs and wants of the people.  City Council needs our input to make the changes we want to see. It is time to start a M.A.D. Movement to change land use bylaws to accommodate the new way living in innovative vibrant tiny house communities. We can help Justin Trudeau with his ambitious national housing strategy that housing rights are human rights and everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. Make your M.A.D. Move and help Calgary's City Council to develop affordable housing for Calgarians.