A community-led initiative, which seeks to build a small community of tiny cabins for homeless people at the site of a former downtown Hamilton high school, received unanimous support from a city committee on Thursday.
The Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Shelters (HATS) aims to use a portion of the field at the Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School property to create the temporary community for encamped residents, starting with 10 insulated cabins.
The eight-acre property falls between Bay Street North, Hess Street North, York Boulevard and Cannon Street West. The school has been vacant since it closed to students in 2019.
Alliance member Tom Cooper says the tiny cabins would not be permanent, nor would they be a solution to homelessness in Hamilton. But he said they would respond to a ‘desperate emergency.’
“Too many people are living rough, in encampments or trying to survive in the recesses of buildings or alleys,” Cooper says. “Our vision was really to stabilize those lives.”
“There’s been a little bit of community pushback, wondering if it is the best site,” Cooper says. But he says it is close to community services in the downtown, including mental health supports and addiction counselling.
Julia Kollek, another member of HATS, says the cabins measure eight feet by 10 feet, are insulated, and built to fire code with lighting, a microwave and a small bar fridge.
“We’ve been extremely lucky to find a cabin maker in Stoney Creek who’s giving us a really special rate, and is incredibly supportive of this project, Kollek says.
Supporters appeared before Hamilton’s emergency and community services committee to speak about the proposal during a meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Members of the committee voted unanimously to support the idea by asking staff to review the model and bring an interim report to their next meeting on Feb. 17.
That will include examining how the proposal can comply with City of Hamilton bylaws — Stoney Creek Coun. Brad Clark noted that “we have very strict processes.”
HATS also has support from the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board to explore temporary use of the field, but Cooper says that support is time limited, since the board’s plan is to eventually sell the former high school property.
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