Coming from being out there on the street, I've seen people cry when when they get their keys to their house.
Thank you for saving my soul. That's what they would say, you know.
But you know, if it all goes well it's like...
You know, we may not want to think about this, but on any given night, as many as 35,000 Canadians don't have a place to sleep.
There are homeless encampments in every city, all across the country.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission calls this a human rights crisis.
So I'm here in Kitchener- Waterloo because they're trying to do something about it.
Could these tiny homes be a solution to the crisis?
This place is called A Better Tent City.
There are 42 buildings, 50 or so people live here, people who otherwise would be living on the street.
Nadine Greene lives in this yellow house.
This is about people who are homeless and I'm sure people may say 'oh these houses are little'.
This is better than not having, if you have nowhere to go, this is it.
Picture having nowhere to live, pictures sleeping under a bridge, to having your own house
where you can open your door.
Nadine, and a few other people built this place from scratch with private money
and now she works here. She's kind of the superintendent.
Here there how are you doing? Hi Nadine.
I'm fine, the, the bathroom keys.
The first resident I meet is Diana Myers. Diana lived in a tent before moving here.
What does it mean to you to have a house?
A house means a lot to me. Without a house, I don't know what I would do.
I feel safe, I feel good about myself, that I'm not on the street, that I have roof over my head.
And how, how long have you lived here? Three years.
So you've been here three years, if you were still out on the street for those three years where do you think you'd be at?
Oh boy, I don't know, probably dead or something.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that those are the stakes here.
And see, you want to see the showers.
Today Diana says she's doing well.
Got it.
She feels part of something.
The residents here all have responsibilities and Diana shows Nadine how she cleaned the showers.
Yeah, I gave them a good clean.
[Music]
Has anybody seen David? Have you seen David?
Nadine tells me that one of the main reasons people here became homeless, is addiction.
And she decided that A Better Tent City would try to address that.
No I just wanted to know if you want to go to methadone.
Okay, so is Charles going? Is he home?
Are you gonna go? Like the ride is ready.
Megan, you ready? Yep.
The residents get a ride to a methadone clinic.
I'm just trying to gather up people so they can go to deal with their addiction.
Nadine is proud of the things they do here for residents
like the meals they serve every day with the help of volunteers in the local food bank.
It's in the kitchen I meet Jeff Wilmer.
Now he's one of the other people who started this place.
As a longtime city planner, he knew the loophole to get the houses built in the first place.
So I knew that if we were going to build buildings that were under 10 square meters
and didn't have any plumbing, they don't need building permits.
So that was really, opened the door for this initiative. That we could situate as many as we wanted really
and there would, should be no questions about why didn't we get building permits.
We don't need building permits, period.
Got a few people sleeping on couches so keep it quiet.
Jeff says that the houses here are in high demand.
Every day there are people sleeping in the common room. A Better Tent City now has a waiting list.
This is a stopgap measure. This is not the end solution, although it's a it's a pretty good stop gap measure.
And this is partly why we called it A Better Tent City. It's not perfect, but it's better than living in a tent.
Because you've got your own cabin with with insulation and electricity and heat
and you've got meals and you've got community. All those things are better.
Jeff says he knows the place works because he spends time with the people here, like Beverly Melanson.
Didn't even notice you're there.
Bev tells Jeff about when a volunteer first gave her her house.
He cam up and he said, Bev, come here and I went out to him and um
he was dingeling the keys, he said Merry Christmas.
The keys to your own house?
Yeah so I just started crying.
I guess.
You know, I mean after being homeless for like two years.
So it was, I went and ran into the house
turned my heater on and I didn't take nothing from my tent or anything, I just laid there, like, aww this is so nice.
For Jeff, maybe the biggest measure of success of A Better Tent City
is that a dozen cities across the country have contacted them because they want to do the same thing.
In fact, just a few kilometers away, the Waterloo region has built 50 tiny houses of their own.
This is a response to the chronic issue of homelessness in our community.
it's an attempt to try something different.
That's Peter Sweeney, the commissioner of community services for the area.
He says people will move in here any day now.
This is one of the tiny homes. It's about 10 by 10.
Um, it's metal construction, air conditioned, heated, fireproof, very well made.
You know, where did the idea of the little houses come from?
I'd say this entire idea has been inspired by what we've learned from our friends at A Better Tent City
and the idea that, that people will come to places where they have their own small little place
and so that's where it was inspired from.
These tiny houses may become the new way municipalities try to solve the problem of chronic homelessness.
I want to understand what it's like to live in one of them.
Oh this is my home, come on in.
Back at A better Tent City I meet Joe Lima and he invites me inside his house.
Come on in gentlemen.
Wow. This is my little home.
This is storage up here, and I've built a little shelf here, it gives me a little, a little more space
where I can put my cereals and things like that.
This is my fridge, I mount it into the wall, which gives me a lot more room.
What's that there? The camera I bought off a friend of mine
because I had a little wagon outside and uh somebody stole it.
So I put a camera up and now I can catch anybody.
[Music]
Joe used to own his own house but because of addiction and well life, he lost everything.
He's been living here for a year now.
What is coming and living here, what's it done for you?
Well, it's changed my life, you know, I've come here with, uh, not much, not, not much to live for
I was not going to do anything stupid, you know
but really depressed, and this place has brought me, uh thinking better about life, everything else
and um it's brought me back to my old, getting my old ways back when I'm insulting my friends you know and stuff like that.
So I'm feeling good about myself lately.
I'm smiling again, you know, even though I get missing my teeth, right, but um
yeah, I'm happier now than I have been a year ago, yes.
Joe tells me he's a heavy machinery operator, and then he's ready to move out.
But I'm planning to get back to work and it's just a matter of time
right I'm looking for a job right now
get back to work and you know pass this wonderful little cabin to somebody that deserves it
and is willing to give me a 500 000 for it . [Laughs]
If Joe moves out maybe that'll be the best example of how the stability this place provides helps people.
Nadine tells me that in the last three years, four people have left and gotten their own apartments.
I always feel proud when I'm walking anywhere in here.
And people may think, proud of this? Yes, we are proud of this.
We can help people.
Canadians, A Better Tent City is home.
A Better Tent City is my life, it's everything.
Nick Purdon, CBC News, Kitchener-Waterloo