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City Council Candidate

Son of late city comptroller proposes ‘Tiny Home Subdivision’ as a solution for local homelessness

Sep 29, 2022 | 5:54 PM

ckpgPRINCE GEORGE – Doug Jeffrey, newly minted yoga teacher, and the son of long-time Prince George civil servant Chester Jeffrey, is stepping up to continue the family legacy in municipal affairs.

An avid practitioner of mindfulness, and a major advocate for inner-city green spaces, Mr. Jeffery is packing some big ideas for tackling the housing crisis in the city, and wants to lobby both the federal and provincial governments for help on a major overhaul of city infrastructure, and an expansion of crisis services province-wide.

I was proposing we put aside about $500,000 a year into a reserve fund, and then apply for grants (from federal infrastructure)… The province of British Columbia needs to get involved in providing mental health facilities, large ones need to be built ASAP, because it’s not just Prince George. We can provide a solution for some of the homeless people here, and the mental health problems, but how many people can we accomodate locally? we can’t build facilities for people all over BC. The solution needs to start with the province. -Doug Jeffrey

To start the ball rolling on his ambitious vision for the city, Mr. Jeffery says we need to focus on immediate solutions. At the top of his list, advocating for the creation of a “tiny home subdivision”, something he hopes will provide affordable housing in a pinch.

“I’m a proponent of tiny homes, they’re about $50,000 a unit, they can be put up very quickly. They have all the services associated with them, they’re self contained, basically like a well laid out RV but smaller… The only challenge with that, and this is where (city) staff would have to come in, is where do we put them?” – Doug Jeffrey

Mr. Jeffrey says his idea for a tiny home subdivision would include input from local residents to determine a location, as well as the creation of new policy to prevent a culture of illicit drug use from taking root in the new community.

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