Homeless Veterans Move Into Village of Tiny Homes to Get Back on Their Feet Just in Time for Christmas

A homeless veteran requests assistance on Dec. 25, 2019 Shutterstock

A collaborative effort in Calgary, Alberta, has successfully built Canada’s first village of tiny homes to help rehabilitate the city’s homeless veteran community. The village welcomed its first tenants on Nov. 1, 2019, and hosts of people online are celebrating the inauguration of this incredible resource for ex-servicemen and women.

“The idea behind the village is to bring the veterans together so that they can interact and support each other,” veteran support worker Don Mcleod told CTV News.

Many of the new tenants of Calgary’s Forest Lawn tiny-homes village are veterans who have been suffering financial, mental health, or substance abuse setbacks since reintegrating back into civilian life. With a safe place to rest and recuperate, these same veterans are now encouraged to use the village as a stepping stone to reengage with their lives, families, and future vocational ambitions.

According to Global News, the completion of the village was a collaboration between the Homes for Heroes Foundation, ATCO housing company, and The Mustard Seed health and wellness charity.

Homes for Heroes Foundation president and co-founder Dave Howard voiced his gratitude to the three organizations and the local community for making the project a reality. “They’re the ones that volunteered, they’re the ones that donated the money, so without them we have nothing,” Howard explained, adding, “Canadians truly appreciate our veterans and we thank them.”

The Calgary Food Bank as well as Veterans Affairs have also stepped in to support the project. There is a resource center, family suite, community garden, and full-time counseling service at the Forest Lawn tiny-homes site, all contributing toward the shared goal of improving life for homeless veterans.

“Things start sliding, one thing adds to another and things start spiraling for guys,” former Corporal Matthew Blencowe explained to CTV News, speaking of the vital services on offer for the new residents of the Forest Lawn village. “[B]efore you know it, you don’t know where to turn.”

Each 275-square-foot tiny home comprises a full kitchen, a breakfast bar and workstation, a bathroom with shower, and a living area with a sofa that converts into a Murphy bed, as per Business Insider.

The homes also honor fallen soldiers with plaques placed outside each individual residence. Veterans contribute a subsidized rent—$600 per month—to live in the tiny homes by way of contribution to the monthly running of the facility. For context, renting a one-bedroom apartment elsewhere in Calgary would cost an average of $1,156 per month.

The ultimate objective of the tiny-homes village in Forest Lawn, Howard explained, is to have veterans move in, rehabilitate, find employment, move out, and then “pay it forward” by returning to mentor the next intake of homeless veterans.

“For some, it could be 14 months and for others, it could be up to three years,” Howard explained, speaking of the potential duration of a veteran’s residence in the tiny-homes village. “It really depends on their program.”

A 2016 Government of Canada National Shelter Study estimated that around 2,400 veterans were accessing homeless shelters. Howard, however, believes that as of 2019, that number could have more than doubled.

Howard, whose grandfather suffered from PTSD after serving as a naval officer in World War II, speculated that the tiny-homes projects could potentially put an end to homelessness among Canadian veterans within 13 years.

As 11 out of 15 tiny homes at the Forest Lawn site welcomed their new tenants on Nov. 1, the village also ushered in the Christmas spirit courtesy of a thoughtful donation. “Big thanks to our friends at Stampede City Sessions for their donation of Christmas wreaths,” the Homes for Heroes Foundation posted on Facebook.

Canada’s next tiny-homes village is scheduled to open in Edmonton, Alberta, in the winter of 2020. Future projects include sites in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and the Maritimes.