St. Catharines modular homes project set to aid with homelessness

The Niagara region is building a temporary shelter in St. Catharines using modular homes.

They are portable buildings that can be taken down and set up at other locations depending on need.

Cameron Banack, the CEO of Niagara Regional Housing said the modular homes used to be camps for oil sands workers in Alberta before making their way to Riordon Street in St. Catharines.

The complex, when finished and functioning will house fifty people and give them access to kitchen and bathroom facilities, as well as treatment for addiction and mental health issues.

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According to Cathy Cousins, the director of Homelessness Services Niagara Region, “this site will prioritize individuals who are living in local encampments. So it may actually provide more security to the neighbourhood and more opportunities for people to be in a single space and have the supports they need rather than trying to live independently in the neighbourhood.”

The Riordon temporary shelter is a group of 12 modular homes that have been purchased from the oil sands in Alberta for $2.6 million. Construction is currently underway on the facility but it is expected to open as soon as Friday of next week.

Marc Catanzariti lives in the area and says he is pleased with the city’s actions, “the city is responding and helping out the people that are less fortunate, it’s sad that it took this long to be built…but I’m definitely happy.”

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The director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, Tom Cooper, says he sees what St. Catharines has been able to do with the tiny shelters and agrees that it can be a possible solution for Hamilton as well.

Cooper says “we have to look at unique and bold solutions… modular homes and tiny homes are a unique solution… better than tent encampments… and it could work if people give it a chance.”

Currently in the Niagara region, there are roughly 100 people currently sleeping outside.