An example of temporary transitional tiny homes. Screenshot provided to Sarnia council by Anne Marie Gillis.An example of temporary transitional tiny homes. Screenshot provided to Sarnia council by Anne Marie Gillis.
Sarnia

Creation of tiny house community referred to Lambton County Council

The request for the creation of a transitional tiny house community in Sarnia, has been referred to Lambton county council by city council.

City council approved developing an action plan to create a number of 80 square foot dwellings at its September 10 meeting, and the idea has received mixed reviews since.

At Tuesday's regular meeting, city councillor George Vandenberg asked his colleagues to receive and file staff recommendations on the idea or hold a plebiscite.

"I'm moving that we forget the entire thing," Vandenberg said. "If we are going to push this thing forward, then I think the public deserves a right to vote on it."

Vandenberg ended up withdrawing his motion when he determined it would fail.

Councillor Terry Burrell said building transitional tiny homes is "not for us to do."

"I think it really comes down to what they say, 'staying in our lane', and our 'lane' does not include housing. At the county level we can end up spending a whole lot of money in areas that really [are] not our [bailiwick]. So, I think that we should not be doing this," Burrell said.

But, councillor Anne Marie Gillis urged her colleagues to view the idea through a different lens.

"When we look at what we've traditionally done as a city and as a county, the county has always provided the social services and we have always, in one respect or another, provided the infrastructure," said Gillis.

She said building transitional tiny homes could be similar to the city and county collaboration for libraries.

"So, when I looked at the monies that has been talked about in this particular report, I see that particular segment will not be our responsibility, but will be the responsibility of the county -- as it should be -- and they have taken on that responsibility currently at the encampment," Gillis said. 

Gillis said "as a community we have to do something."

"At our last very big meeting that was on September 24, the take away from that was... show leadership and find a solution," she said. "This, I think, is the closest that we're going to come. There hasn't been anything else that's been presented and I think it's something that will prove that will be very good for our citizens and be a good learning curve and a good relationship that we can bring back and form with the county again."

Mayor Mike Bradley said he was planning to meet with the city and county CAO's, the warden and members of the Rotary Club of Sarnia to discuss a solution.

"We've got to break this log jam," he said. "We've got to find a way forward. I've even had individuals suggest to me that maybe at some point down the road we have to look at our role as it relates to housing. If that's the case, that starts to dissolve the whole city [and] county relationship. Because, the reason we joined the county was they were going to take the big services -- housing, health -- and provide them throughout the region. What's unfolding is that we're only getting part of that packaging. So, there's a bigger issue in play."

Bradley said he's planning to report back to both the city and county councils in a few weeks.

He said while Lambton County Council wouldn't address this particular referral at Wednesday's meeting, the group would be talking about the things that related to homelessness and housing.

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