Dec. 28, 2024 "Toronto man creates tiny mobile homes to help unhoused people escape the cold": Today I found this article on CBC:
After seeing people sleeping outside in the cold year-after-year, a Toronto man is building tiny mobile homes attached to bicycles to give temporary relief to those who are unhoused.
Ryan Donais started building the small modular homes this summer as he watched the city's housing crisis becoming more dire. He said he didn't want to go through another winter seeing people living on the streets, so he put his background in construction to use.
"I just don't see any changes. It's been many years with people outside and it's not changing. I couldn't imagine being outside for years, you know?"
Since then, Donais has built three homes at a cost of about $10,000 each, most of which has been paid for through donations to his GoFundMe page.
He took inspiration form Khaleel Seivwright, a carpenter who built wooden shelters during the pandemic — until the city removed them, claiming they were a fire hazard.
Not wanting his tiny homes to suffer the same fate, Donais said he designed his mobile shelters to hopefully avoid backlash from the city.
Each of the small units have electricity and heat, running water and a bed, as well as safety features like smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and a fire extinguisher. Donais said the units are also designed with Ontario's e-bike regulations in mind so that they can legally travel on the city's bike lanes if they have to be moved.
So far, Donais said he hasn't encountered any issues.
Terra Sawler moved into one of Donais' mobile homes about a month and a half ago after spending close to three years living on the street.
"This is definitely the safest and warmest I've been since I've been out here."
After burning down two tents just trying to stay warm, Sawler says this is definitely a safer option. In addition to keeping her warm, Sawler says the tiny home has also allowed her to have something she hadn't had in years — a good night's sleep.
"When you're out on the street, you don't sleep every night. You sleep every couple nights," she said.
"And you gotta take turns and shifts with people, right? 'Cause I mean, I've had my shoes stolen off my feet, I've had my [sleeping] bag cut off, it's a dog-eat-dog world out here."
As part of its housing action plan released in 2020, the City of Toronto has committed to creating 1,000 new modular homes for people experiencing homelessness.
So far, the city has completed 216 homes on city-owned sites, its website says.
Other municipalities in Ontario have started to use modular homes to address a lack of housing.
Peterborough started a modular housing community filled with cabins in the site of a former parking lot
Waterloo also has a tiny home shelter run by the region that opened last year,
while Hamilton is expected to open an outdoor shelter made up of tiny modular homes next month following some delays.
Since building his first tiny home in the summer, Donais has since registered his own not-for-profit organization, Tiny Tiny Homes, to help create more.
He says he's happy to be able to give people like Sawler an escape from the cold with his mini modular homes. But his homes aren't meant to be permanent, and he wishes he didn't have to build them at all.
"It's a terrible that we're letting people sleep outside. Housing is the answer."
With files from Naama Weingarten
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-tiny-mobile-homes-1.7419805
Oct. 9, 2024 "Erbs Road tiny home shelter to remain open until 2030 and beyond": Today I found this article by Kate Bueckert on CBC:
The Erbs Road tiny home shelter run by the Region of Waterloo is expected to be funded until at least 2030 after councillors voted in favour of keeping it open for as long as necessary.
Regional councillors discussed a report about the Erbs Road encampment during a community and health services meeting Tuesday.
Peter Sweeney, the region's commissioner of community services, said he has talked to people in the shelter and people told him they felt safe there. He advocated for the region to keep the shelter running beyond March 2025.
"It is one of those efforts that I would say,
based on the experience,
based on the data
and based on the human beings that have been impacted,
it is one that we feel strongly should continue to be a part of our housing stability system while we work through the plan to end chronic homelessness," he told councillors.
Shelter opened April 2023
The hybrid shelter of 50 individual cabins and a communal space was approved in August 2022 and opened in late April 2023. It was intended to operate for two years.
This May, regional staff started to do a one-year evaluation and the staff report said they found the shelter "had a positive impact on its participants."
There were 35 people who lived at the shelter and who took part in the survey:
- 62 per cent said the shelter's environment was supportive of their recovery.
- 70 per cent said they found "critical relief" from their previous encampment experience.
- 64 per cent indicated they had a positive experience.
- 71 per cent said the shelter is an important resource.
Since opening, 19 people have moved into housing.
Sweeney told councillors that in speaking with people living at the encampment, he heard about the experiences they had before getting a cabin at the Erbs Road site.
"I once said something about living in an encampment and a gentleman looked at me and he said, 'Peter, don't talk about living in encampment.' He goes, 'We barely exist in an encampment.' And so that's stuck with me," he said.
Concerns from neighbours, businesses
But the report noted there have been concerns. Regional staff who work in a building near the shelter, including waste management and paramedics, had reported a rise in trespassing, theft and scavenging.
Other neighbours and businesses in the area also raised concerns, the report noted, including "trespassing, loitering, and property theft, along with concerns about the lack of accountability of residents."
"As well, some residents and business did not feel
their concerns were adequately addressed
nor did they have proper forums of communication avenues,"
the report noted.
Wilmot Mayor Natasha Salonen also raised concerns with the report.
"This report, I find quite unsettling that we're celebrating 18.4 per cent of people moving into housing.
What about the 84 other people that have gone through Erbs Road or currently live there.
Why aren't we talking about that?" she said during the meeting.
"I don't know any other program at the region that would be recommended to continue its service level that has less than a 20 per cent success rate
and leaves the mass majority of the people accessing that service behind."
Salonen also said she thinks it's great they have provided a sense of security for people, but she has also heard from people who live in the area of the shelter who have safety and security issues.
Sweeney said the success rate is "consistent" with other similar programs. The other people who remain at the shelter "is the crux of the problem" and something staff at working to address, he said.
He said they've also worked with neighbours "on a case-by-case" basis.
Mayor raises concerns about permits, inspections
Salonen also slammed the region for not following proper protocols when setting up the shelter.
"Wearing my Wilmot township hat, I really don't have great faith in the region proceeding as an effective landowner in Wilmot in terms of this project," she said.
"There have been permits that were not gotten through our township and completely disregarded the process that we, as a municipality, are supposed to have permits for certain things.
Requests for foregoing inspections have happened on this site, which thank goodness my staff pushed and did not allow," she added.
"Where are the guarantees for the Township of Wilmot, if this is to proceed, that the region and their contractors will conduct themselves in an appropriate manner towards the municipality that they need to get appropriate building approvals from?"
Sweeney said it's not staff's intention to move any process through without proper conversations and approvals and he assured Salonen they will "continue to act with professionalism and do our best to balance all the needs of a number of people."
In the end, eight councillors voted in favour of the staff recommendations to keep the Erbs Road shelter open.
Two councillors opposed it: Salonen and Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett. One councillor, Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, was absent.
The decision made in committee will still need to be ratified at a future regional council meeting.
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Sat. Jan. 12, 2025 "TikTok's 'Lawn Guy' Saves Woman with Disabilities from City Fine, Raises More Than $380K to Make Her Home Accessible": Today I found this article by Charlotte Phillipp on People and Yahoo:
A landscaper-turned influencer who works to trim the lawns of neighbors in need has raised more than $380,000 for an elderly woman.
Wichita, Kan.-based lawn care and power-washing company SB Mowing has garnered hundreds of thousands of likes on platforms including TikTok and YouTube. Run by creator Spencer (who prefers not to share his last name online), the videos show off how the company trims grass in overgrown yards — and spends time helping local community members.
Many of SB Mowing's videos show Spencer approaching his neighbors, often elderly or disabled, who have struggled to take care of their yards or properties and offering them some maintenance, free of charge.
On Friday, Jan. 9, Spencer shared a video on the company's TikTok that would become one of his most-viewed off all time. In it, he speaks with a woman named Beth who said she had tried for a month to get someone to help her trim her overgrown lawn, to no avail.
"I got a call from a friend at the city, and she told me that there is an elderly lady that is in desperate need of help," Spencer wrote in a GoFundMe message. "So I stopped by her house, and her lawn was getting CRAZY!"
"A lot of people are wanting to donate to help her fix some of the accessibility issues around her home," he wrote on the GoFundMe page.
In another TikTok clip posted on Sunday, Spencer shared that he had launched the GoFundMe to raise funds to build a ramp and a new driveway for Beth, purchase a chair lift for her basement and have enough cash to maintain her yard for the next few years. Other leftover funds would be used to fix several broken windows and purchase a new bed.
As of Sunday, Jan. 12, the GoFundMe page had surpassed its $100,000 goal with more than $380,000 in donations.
https://ca.style.yahoo.com/tiktoks-lawn-guy-saves-woman-032138798.html
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When does The Hunting Party premiere on NBC?
NBC’s new drama series The Hunting Party is now going to premiere its first episode on Sunday, January 19, at 7 p.m. ET/PT and next day on Peacock!
The series debut is scheduled to follow the NFL divisional playoff game (3 p.m. ET) between the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the winner of tonight’s Minnesota Vikings-Los Angeles Rams game and NBC Nightly News (6:30 p.m. ET), depending upon the length of the game.
An encore episode of The Hunting Party will air in its original premiere timeslot (Monday, February 3 at 10 p.m.) with new episodes continuing on Monday, February 10.
What is The Hunting Party about?
The Hunting Party is a high-concept crime procedural about a small team of investigators who are assembled to track down and capture the most dangerous killers our country has ever seen, all of whom have just escaped from a top-secret prison that’s not supposed to exist. Known as "The Pit," viewers have gotten a first look at this mysterious prison in recent trailers.
Free things I found at home: My charger wire stopped working, so I asked my mom for one. She told me to look in this drawer.
1. 3 charger boxes
2. A charger wire, that doesn't fit for my tablet
3. A pack of Las Vegas coasters: I was happy I found this. A friend gave this to my mom.
4. A pair of headphones
The next day:
5. I found a charger for her old flip phone that also works for my tablet.
I still had another charger wire that works.
