In 2021, the City of Toronto came under public scrutiny after cracking down on tiny homes, dismantling makeshift shelters that were keeping unhoused residents protected from freezing temperatures, even as traditional shelters reduced intake during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time, those building the structures were treated as operating outside the city’s homelessness strategy, if not actively undermining it.
Five years later, city officials appear to be changing course, inviting organizations to submit proposals for its two-year Micro Shelter Pilot Project, which aims to establish a tiny home community.
“We recognize the need to be innovative and nimble to address the homelessness crisis,” said Elise von Scheel, senior communications adviser for the City of Toronto. “The solution to homelessness is permanent housing — and the city is investing in building more homes faster, while enhancing the shelter system and exploring additional options in the interim.”
The move signals a shift in how City Hall views small-scale shelter models, which were once treated as disruptive, but are now being positioned as a potential complement to Toronto’s homelessness response.
But, providers say the structure of the pilot presents a significant barrier as it requires applicants to bring forward their own land — either by owning it, leasing it, or securing permission from a landowner. It’s a requirement that groups working in the sector say is difficult to meet in a city where land is scarce and expensive.
“It’s more challenging to have to go out on your own to find a plot of land than if there was one that had already kind of been put forward by them,” said Robert Raynor, lead adviser at Two Step Homes, an organization developing a cabin community model for people living outdoors.
Two Step Homes serves as the tiny-home branch associated with SvN, an architecture practice founded by John van Nostrand, who has advocated for small-scale shelter and transitional housing solutions for decades.
Van Nostrand invited Raynor to bring his hands-on expertise to the firm following his work building emergency tiny shelters in 2021.
During the pandemic, Raynor worked alongside carpenter Khaleel Seivwright on the Toronto Tiny Shelters project, an emergency effort that saw small wooden shelters built for people pushed out of the city’s shelter system when capacity was reduced.
The city ultimately moved to dismantle many of the structures, citing safety and planning concerns. Looking back, Raynor describes the tension less as ideological opposition and more as a mismatch in scale and timelines.
Raynor frames the 2021 effort as an emergency response to an immediate crisis aimed “to get people through the winter,” not a long-term solution.
But since joining Two Step Homes, Raynor says the goal is now to create a model that works in tandem with the city rather than outside it.
“I’m happy that they’re taking this approach right now,” he told the Star of the city’s willingness to consider tiny shelters as part of it’s homelessness solution.
“It’s been nice watching the city over time start to understand this model a little bit more, understand where this fits — that this doesn’t go against the work that they’re doing, but it works with them.”
Two Step Homes’ current proposal envisions communities of roughly 50 movable cabins built on underutilized or privately secured parcels, providing temporary but dignified housing until permanent units are ready.
Their proposal comprises small, durable homes built to Ontario building code and passive house standards, ensuring high energy efficiency, comfort, and long-term reusability. Each cabin is roughly eight by 12 feet designed for a single resident, and offers a private, lockable space for personal belongings.
The site will include a communal hub with a kitchen, washrooms, showers, laundry, and a health clinic to provide wraparound support services. Outdoor spaces include gardens and a basketball court, fostering community interaction and wellness.
But their central challenge remains — access to land.
According to von Scheel, the micro shelter pilot reflects the limits of Toronto’s own land inventory.
As part of a yearlong feasibility study, staff evaluated 44 city-owned sites against standard shelter criteria and micro shelter best practices from other jurisdictions, ultimately determining that none met the size and location requirements needed for a viable program.
“Staff also determined that using them would displace or delay other higher density shelter and housing projects that will support a greater number of people,” von Scheel said, adding that staff are now exploring the feasibility of locating micro shelters on underutilized TTC parking lots, while using the expression of interest request to identify private land options.
But Raynor believes the program can still work on city-owned land due to the slow nature of housing development in Toronto, emphasizing that Two Step Homes’ approach won’t interfere with long-term affordable housing plans.
“A developer might buy a site, demolish the buildings, and then sit on it for a couple of years. Our model just uses the land before it’s ready for (construction),” he said, noting the cabins can be moved to new locations by forklift and flatbed truck if necessary.
As the city reviews submissions under the pilot program applications, Raynor says the initiative’s ultimate success may hinge less on design or funding than on whether access to land becomes a shared responsibility between operators and municipal departments.
Potential tiny home providers now have until Feb. 19 to apply for the program.
