A Calgary Tiny House Community

The first of several tiny house communities designed to offer housing and support services to the over 160 homeless Calgary Canadian Veterans that are struggling to readapt to civilian life is proposed to be built in Bridgeland. The Calgary-based non-profit Homes For Heroes Foundation is planning to construct tiny communities designed with a barracks theme to help the veterans integrate back into civilian life. David Howard, president of Homes for Heroes Foundation, says: “Veterans will have each other's back. That’s what this is built around, to better each other and to work as a unit “.

The Tiny House Community (THC) will assist veterans, whose challenges have caused them to be homeless, by providing affordable rental housing and the fundamental components of a robust support system delivering stability and dignity towards developing a stable and secure life. A Homes For Heroes community will consist of 15 to 20 architecturally pleasing tiny homes, a community garden, and a resource centre operated by The Mustard Seed. Each 250 ft² fully furnished tiny house would be built by the building partner ATCO and include a working kitchen with a breakfast bar/workstation. It will include a full bath, plenty of storage, and have basic cable, Wi-Fi and a telephone line.

The homes are modular units that are quickly deployable, adaptable, and easily transportable and relocatable to a new location at the end of a land-lease term.

A second Veteran’s Village is also planned for Calgary with a third one to be built in Edmonton for the 240 homeless veterans there. The non-profit’s goal is to provide all of those who served their country a roof over their heads by creating communities in every major Canadian city within the next decade.

“The possibilities are endless,” says Howard, “this concept can be applied to other demographics, such as seniors, students, and new Canadians”. This could be the start to providing homes and support for all the homeless and low-income families. Let us consider even expanding these THCs into affordable housing solutions with rent-to-own mortgages. These new THCs lots could also be used for those H4H veterans that are ready to go on their own. It would give them an opportunity to own their own property.

The City of Calgary has an opportunity here to help develop affordable tiny house living. There are several plots of land the city could utilized for such a purpose. They have recently dismantled Midfield Trailer Park and the discontinued proposed Greenfield Trailer Park are prime properties to develop affordable THCs. The Residential Cottage Housing District Land-Use Bylaw could be used as a land-use bylaw template for tiny lots.

Show your support for Home For Heroes and help the homeless veterans get back on their feet. Join The M.A.D. Movement and Make A Difference supporting affordable housing for the homeless and less fortunate. Inform your city councillor that you are for the development of affordable housing by creating tiny house communities.