Another setback for advocates of Conestoga huts to house homeless Londoners

“This is my place,” said Gary Turner proudly as he unlocked the small door to his homemade Conestoga hut. “I can stand up in here and I’m six feet tall.”

He’s spent 52 consecutive nights living in the round-topped wooden shelter in a parking lot in London’s Old East Village.

Turner appeared as a delegate in front of city council’s Community and Protective Services Committee speaking in support of a motion by Coun. Michael van Holst that called for a pilot project evaluating the use of tiny homes and Conestoga huts as safer options for Londoners living in tents.

“They aren't meant to solve the problem, they are meant to ease the burden,” explained Turner, who admits they aren’t suitable for everyone living unsheltered.

His hut lacks plumbing, but has an outdoor composting toilet and electricity provided by an adjacent building.

Civic administration told councillors on the committee that the Ontario Building Code does not apply to such small structures, but questions about zoning sites for a group of Conestoga huts or tiny homes have yet to be formally considered.

Gary Turner stands in his Conestoga hut in London's Old East Village, July 27, 2022.Deputy City Manager of Social and Health Development, Kevin Dickins, advised that his staff and the staff of external frontline agencies are facing burnout and can’t accommodate another pilot project at this time.

“Beyond any city capacity constraints, I think I can say with good confidence that the community [partners] themselves are feeling quite stretched, so I don't know what support would look like [for people living in tiny homes],” said Dickins.

Several councillors expressed an open mind to tiny homes as a niche solution for certain individuals — but ultimately they did not support van Holst’s motion.

Aiming to salvage the pilot project, van Holst said he intends to adjust his motion ahead of the next meeting.

“I strongly urge the councillor, if he is going to suggest something at council, to spend a lot of time with city staff to make sure all [his] ducks are in a row,” warned Coun. Cassidy.

Turner said his personal pilot project will continue. He is already making plans to winterize his hut.

“It didn't seem like they really wanted to discuss the motion or anything,” he said. “They just wanted to push it [aside] and almost ignore the motion.”