Tiny homes study in Sudbury could have big impact on housing shortage
Collège Boréal in Sudbury has received about $360,000 from the federal to finance a study on tiny homes and determine whether they’re an option here in northern Ontario.
The money will go into research, as well as planning and designing a tiny home, said Sabine Bouchard, from the college.
“Planning is really our main objective for year one,” Bouchard said.
“We’re going to be working and including some of our architecture students in the process.”
It’s in the second year when they’re hoping to actually build a tiny home on the Sudbury campus.
“That’s going to include students from our carpentry, welding, plumbing, electricity programs,” she said.
“Then year three is to really evaluate that design.”
Boréal will be working alongside the city as well as an organization called the Tiny Town Association, which was found in Kingston in 2015.
Founder Ed Peterson said the organization is working toward building its first tiny home community, with the intention of building multiple communities across Canada an affordable housing option.
“There are more and more businesses building tiny homes, but our partnership with the college is that we’ll be able to look at how tiny homes (can) be constructed to be affordable and meet the housing needs in northern communities,” Peterson said.
“We’ll be able to look at different building styles and determine … do we need that much insulation? Do we need those thicknesses of walls to be able to build something that’s affordable and easy to maintain.”
He said there are benefits to tiny homes.
“The cost of the unit is still less than any other form of housing, that’s the first benefit,” Peterson said.
“The second one is you can build and move into a tiny house quicker than let’s say an apartment building. An apartment building you have to build the whole thing, versus a tiny home. You can build them one by one.”
He hopes the students helping out with the build in Sudbury will become interested in building tiny homes once they graduate.
“We are working to develop people coming out of college and looking at building tiny homes as a potential job or business,” Peterson said.
“So, with all those things in place, there’s potential for a lot of builders to come on board and build tiny homes.”
Boréal said once the tiny home is built, it’s planning to donate it to a not for profit organization.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.