"It's been surprisingly much more comfortable than I was expecting." Micro-shelters get a test-run in London

Call it the pilot program before the pilot program; A London man has spent 140 days living in a Conestoga hut on the Ark Aid Street Mission property at 696 Dundas Street.

He's offering his insights as Ark Aid leadership finalizes details with the city for their new micro-shelter pilot project.

Gary Turner's Conestoga hut has been modelled after huts built in Ohio, with his own modifications; including different mesh that forms the skeleton of the structure, "This here's the upgraded hardware mesh and you can see how it's much tighter than a cattle fence would be."

It's a design he's continuing to modify, pushing on the mesh he says, "I kind of had to rush my design but generally speaking this would be tightly pushed against the wall and rounded out."

Turner has spent almost half a year in his Conestoga hut, “It's been surprisingly much more comfortable than I was expecting."

Gary Turner discusses design modifications he made to his Conestoga hut.The Conestoga hut concept was recently proposed to address the growing numbers of people on the street by members of London council, but the Ark Aid representatives, in consultation with city staff, has shifted to micro-shelter concepts designed by London architectural engineer Andy Spriet.

"We have four individual structures with six units in them,” says Jonny Courey, Ark Aid’s manager of outreach and community-based programs, “Two of the units are a little larger so can accommodate maybe a couple of people. They also have options for compostable toilets and gravity sinks."

The larger units also have their own electric heating. The impacts of falling temperatures are already being felt by the city’s more vulnerable residents. Just before 2am Friday an elderly man was found outside at a location near Dundas Street and Maitland Street. He was taken to hospital by Middlesex-London EMS and treated for hypothermia.

Courey says those seeking shelter will often have unique needs. As an example, some can't cope with being in a group shelter setting. The key is to find solutions for as many people as possible.

Courey says final approvals around bylaws and zoning are currently being discussed with the city for the six-unit micro-shelter pilot project, "We are working with the city to get permissions to start this pilot project so that we know that once we get people into these micro-shelters that we won't be asked to move them out."

In the meantime, Gary Turner is offering himself up to anyone who wants to learn more about micro-shelter life. He can be contacted by email.