We demand intentional communities for unhoused people. Across the country there are self-made tent encampments housing people who are unable to access permanent housing and do not feel welcome or safe in the government shelter system. To support these unhoused people, we demand that cities use underutilized land to fund and build intentional communities where residents receive services, share community responsibilities, and regain the agency to govern space and their own lives.
Across c\a\n\a\d\a, there has been a rapid expansion of tent encampments planned and built by homeless people, who either cannot access shelters, or refuse to subject themselves to the physical danger, psychological insecurity, and lack of community within them. Cities like Toronto and Vancouver have spent millions of dollars violently evicting people from these encampments, and criminalizing those who have supported them, yet people continue to camp out. People spend countless hours finding and helping others find appropriate sites for encampment; accessing basic water and sanitation; retaining access to existing physical and mental health services; erecting all manner of pole-and-tented lodgings; re-inventing beds; feeding themselves; and staying warm. Through these actions, they demonstrate the ability to house themselves—if and when the opportunity presents itself. This strength, resilience, and ingenuity sometimes occurs in more organized forms. In Kitchener, Ontario, for example, a generous landowner, a group of concerned activists, and an existing community of unhoused people created A Better Tent City, a village of 50 people living in tiny houses and sharing common facilities. During the covid-19 pandemic, another group, Toronto Tiny Shelters, produced over a hundred fully insulated dwellings the size of tents for encampments. These precedents point to the importance of working with unhoused people to build strong social communities, not just solid housing. We demand that municipalities across c\a\n\a\d\a learn from these precedents and enact specific policies that use underutilized land to fund and build intentional communities where residents receive services, share community responsibilities, and regain the agency to govern space and their own lives.
We demand that the City of Toronto lead the way by developing model intentional communities. Following consultation with unhoused Torontonians, we demand the construction of a series of prototypical intentional communities that incorporate approximately 25 cabins, plus shared community facilities and basic services, on parking lots or other land already allocated by the city for future affordable housing. We have designed a basic 8’x12’ cabin for individuals as well as a ‘combo’ cabin for couples or roommates. These housing structures are complimented by three types of communal prototypes: An ‘incubator cabin’ for micro-commerce, a washroom and hygiene pavilion, and kitchen and health pavilion.
These prototype cabin communities build on the unrelenting energy that unhoused people and underhoused families have shown in erecting self-determined, self-governed housing communities, and will serve as transitional housing until the residents are ready to move into new, long-term housing.
Our goal is to provide a suitable and more secure alternative to living in a tent, when the municipal shelter system is not an option. To achieve this vision, we are working with encampment residents, city council members, and community organizations to create a supportive coalition, to amend zoning bylaws, and build trust between intentional community providers and prospective residents.
Intentional Communities for Unhoused People Contributors:
Region: Toronto
Activist: Jeff Willmer, A Better Tent City Waterloo Region
Advocate: Larry Chookang, Robert Raynor, Khaleel Sievwright, Toronto Tiny Shelters, Two Steps Home
Architect: John van Nostrand, SvN Architects + Planners, Two Steps Home
The post Architects Against Housing Alienation – Not for Sale!: 7. Intentional Communities for Unhoused People appeared first on Canadian Architect.
