In an effort to provide affordable housing for those in need, Gibsons’ Pamela Robertson wants to create a tiny home park on the Sunshine Coast, and she’s started a Go Fund Me campaign to get the idea off the ground.
Her vision is to purchase a 4.45-hectare piece of property in Langdale and transform it to house up to 46 tiny homes, recreational vehicles or a combination of both.
She envisions the houses would be between 200 and 300 square feet. She has already built one 225-square-foot home on wheels with her mother, complete with RV hook-ups for power and water, at a cost of about $30,000, not including labour. She’s confident more can be built for the same price.
The estimated cost to purchase the Langdale property, clear lots for building, bring in services like sewer and power and erect an out-building where construction of tiny homes can take place, is around $1 million.
Robertson knows it’s a big number but said it doesn’t dissuade her. She has high hopes that the community will support the idea and said she feels a calling to help organize the effort.
“Basically I wanted to do this because my heart is for all these families who are being displaced right now because of the housing crisis on the Coast,” Robertson said, noting she personally knows people who have been affected.
Robertson currently works as a safety services contractor, and she has served people struggling with addiction issues in the past, supporting them through recovery.
She said several Coasters have come to her for a different kind of support lately, after being kicked out of rentals put on the market for sale. Those renters have had a hard time finding anything else in their price range on the Coast.
Some of the displaced renters have ended up moving into boats, tents and even tree houses. One woman, Robertson said, “had to take a one-bedroom rental with her three children because there wasn’t anything else available anywhere.”
She’s heard a lot of heartbreaking stories from people living in nearly uninhabitable places on the Coast because it’s all they can afford.
“It’s really dire straits and it’s really concerning,” Robertson said.
“I think they come to me because I’ve lived in the community for a long time, I have a lot of resources and I’ve made a lot of connections with people and resources.”
She hopes to use those connections to help advance her tiny home park plan.
The idea has been getting a lot of traction on social media, with the Go Fund Me page being shared over 600 times, but so far the money’s not matching the interest.
As of Wednesday this week, Robertson had raised just over $1,400.
Part of the problem may be the lack of clarity around who would own the land itself, who would build the houses, how the park would be run, who would be eligible to live there and whether or not residents would have to buy or rent their abodes.
“I don’t have all the answers right now. I’m just working on developing a structure that would provide the ability to have a home and looking at models that already exist like Habitat for Humanity,” Robertson said, noting there are similar housing developments on Vancouver Island she can learn from.
“There’s a bunch of different ideas that have been thrown out there.”
Robertson has been working on a business plan for the effort and meeting with members of the regional district and Community Futures to help work out the details.
She’s also assembling a group of like-minded people to form a committee dedicated to getting some affordable housing built as soon as possible.
If the plan to buy land for a tiny home park falls through, Robertson said the homes could still be built and distributed to those in need.
“If we don’t get the land, it can’t be a deal breaker,” she said.
“I just know that there’s the ability to move forward regardless. I’m a firm believer that if God is in it, then we can win it.”
To get involved, you can contact Robertson at sunshinecoasthousingcrisis@gmail.com
You can also donate to the Go Fund Me campaign at www.gofundme.com/gyhmz5-tiny-homes-for-the-homeless
