A shelter in Moccasin Flats

By Tommy Osborne

Homeless

Tiny homes being built to battle the cold

Oct 26, 2023 | 4:47 PM

Winter is coming soon, which for many of us is often just an annoyance and nothing too serious beyond having to bundle up and save a couple extra dollars on our heat and electricity bill. However, for our homeless population the impending cold poses a serious threat, as things like frostbite and hypothermia are a legitimate concern.

To help mitigate the problem, Phillip Frederickson and carpenter Brad Gustafson have begun building tiny homes in Moccasin Flats. With $4500 raised so far, Frederickson expects to build six to eight houses.

The frame of a tiny house being built in Mocassin Flats

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For Frederickson, the motivation to fundraise and build houses was simple, as he said he saw nothing being done and wanted to fix that.

The project is still in its early phases, but Frederickson knows the houses alone won’t be enough to fully help our homeless population battle the cold. Explaining that the City can’t do much without Provincial Government backing and funding, he is calling on the Province to establish utilities in Mocassin Flats.

“Have it set up so that when we have these tiny homes they can be plugged into electricity, they can be set up with water or something that can be distributed evenly throughout the site,” he said.

While a project of that scale may seem to be too pricey, Frederickson believes it will pay for itself, as he says each homeless person in our city costs around $100 000 when we consider the services they access, like healthcare and shelters. If the government establishes electricty and water, it’s likely that cost would significantly lower, as having a proper heated shelter would potentially eliminate any need for hospital services related to extreme cold.

Beyond utilities, Frederickson added an easier and more immediate fix is possible with warming centres. Rather than waiting to open them until it gets really cold, he believes the centres should open earlier so people know where to go when it does hit chilly temperatures.

“I think the problem has been that the warming centres open when it hits -10°C and by that time people are already taking shelter in different places and finding different corners and areas where it’s not too windy or something like that . And that’s where we end up with the trouble of people getting hypothermia, people getting frostbite. If we have these warming centres open right away people get to know where they are while the weather is still ok and then they show up to the warming centres.”

Extreme cold could lead to possibly losing fingers or other limbs from frostbite, or in the worst case scenario, death.

If you would like to donate to help build more tiny houses, you can visit Frederickson’s GoFundMe here.