A Better Tent City will be receiving $155,000 from Waterloo Regional Council to help cover electricity-related costs.
Council approved a motion for the one-time funding request at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday morning.
The community of tiny homes says it incurred “significant expenses” following a relocation to Ardelt Avenue in October 2021.
The property, which is owned by the City of Kitchener and the Waterloo Region District School Board, did not traditionally have access to utilities including water, electricity and sewer.
A Better Tent City volunteer and board member Jeff Willmer says they had to rent a large generator for about five weeks to ensure residents could have heat and light.
The report to council also states there were delays in getting connected to the electrical grid due to the construction boom.
The report breaks down the costs as $16,100 to provide electrical supply to cabins, $52,900 to rent and operate a generator and $86,000 for conversion to the electrical grid.
Willmer told regional council the expenses effectively drained their resources, leading them to ask the region for a one time funding of $155,000 to cover the costs.
Councillors voted in favour of the motion, which still needs formal ratification at the next Regional Council meeting.
The funds will come out of the 2021 Housing Services Operating Budget.
A Better Tent City describes itself as a community-led initiative that operates outside of Waterloo Region’s formal housing stability system, though it has received various supports from area municipalities.
Fifty people live in the community, all of whom were formerly unsheltered, Willmer told council.
In the report to council, they also say A Better Tent City leadership covered most of the costs related to the relocation to Ardelt Avenue, including moving expenses and water and sewer hook ups.
Council also heard that the community may stay at the Ardelt Avenue location longer than the one year originally offered by the city and the school board.
“Recently we have had encouraging comments from the school board that if we need to stay longer that they would be pleased to host us for longer,” Willmer said.
“So that’s encouraging for all kinds of reasons, partly because moving is disruptive and expensive, but also because the current site is actually working out quite well for us.”
Willmer told council one of the goals in developing A Better Tent City was to prove the concept works and encourage others to copy it.
Willmer says the model is already being replicated Duncan, B.C., and Kingston, and there are citizen groups working on bringing it to Woodstock and Hamilton.
