A long-time intrusion on the north side of Kains Street – a rubble and weed-strewn brownfield, the former home of Elgin Handles – has been transformed overnight.
The site at 21 Kains Street is now the city’s Field of Dreams with eight tiny homes sprouting up over three days this week in what was billed as The Big Blitz for Tiny Hope.
From Tuesday through Thursday, teams from Wastell Homes, Collier Homes, Winmar Construction, MP Custom Homes, Mark Thomas, DHP Homes, Woodfield Design and Build joined project lead Doug Tarry Homes to erect walls, add plumbing, electrical, insulation, paint finishes and cabinetry to eight tiny home units situated at the north end of the property now owned by YWCA St. Thomas-Elgin.

They join the first home at the south end of the site, which is to become the demonstration model opening up later this fall.
From the entrance off Kains Street, Project Tiny Hope now consists of what best can be described as a roadway to a brighter future for dozens of individuals.

 

At a ceremony Thursday (Sept. 26) afternoon to wrap up the builder’s blitz – seen as a friendly competition to see which of the teams would put down the tools first – we spoke with St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston.
“Just look out there, the smiles on the faces of those congratulating their competitors on the great job they’ve all done.
“We don’t see much of that everywhere else, but the passion they have is building homes and when you can do this in your community the passion shows through.”
Preston referenced it as “filling in the neighbourhood.”
Almost one year ago, we spoke with then Associate Minister of Housing Rob Flack, who pointed to Project Tiny Hope as “the beacon of hope for all in Ontario. And, give a shout-out to the YWCA and Lindsay Rice, she is fantastic.”
He stressed that the 40-home community could easily serve as a template for other municipalities across the province.
Preston elaborated on that thought.
“It’s not only just a template for what the size and shapes of houses could be. It’s a template of what for-profit builders, great charitable work like the YWCA and Sanctuary Homes and the municipality coming together can do.

“We think this is the first of many more things. Let’s be proud of it and go on and do more.”
Joining Preston in one of the homes – this one constructed by Woodfield Design and Build, winners of the build competition – was YWCA executive director Lindsay Rice, who stressed the tiny homes are not yet move-in ready.
“It is still a construction site, but the sooner we can get residents in, the better. The Doug Tarry Homes team is on pace with that and they are going to go back after this big, exciting week and check out the next timeline, the next stage and see if we can phase it in and get some residents in and continue construction.
“It is kind of in their court right now to do some of that planning.”
Rice continued, “Full construction completion is the summer of 2026, with the big boost of these eight houses, I am sure it will be done sooner than that.

“We know that the need is there, we know the interest is there and we’re not only providing affordable housing, but we’re providing YWCA supports in tandem with that.
“It’s not for everyone. It’s going to be for those folks who are coming in and want to look for additional pathways to prosperity, who want to look for supports for economic stabilization. Pathways to employment, pathways to skills training and development, really looking at this as like a community development.
“This is going to be homes for all walks of life and those supports tailored to their individual point in life.
“Central to the property will be the YWCA program house, including the learning kitchen, activity and community rooms and staff offices. We’re going to have a really great children’s playground on the property, raised fruit and vegetable gardens and so it is going to be a very holistic place to live and thrive.”
She touched on the process that led to the purchase of 21 Kains Street.
“We started looking for property and this property has it all. A prime location downtown, near a bus route, grocery stores, it’s near childcare, the library, near social services, we couldn’t get a better location.
“We are now the proud owners of a property that has nine bungalows on it and it’s incredible. We’ve come a long way.
We caught up next with an exhausted but still extremely enthusiastic Doug Tarry alongside Heather Sheridan, the city’s Director of Social Services.
He took great pains to explain that “these homes we’re delivering to the YWCA” will be anything but cheaply built, slapped-together homes.

“These are best-in-class in North America. This is not junk housing, this is the best you can build.
“People ask why do you want to do it.
“One reason is it gives people an opportunity to shine. In our industry, this (the three-day build blitz) is kind of like our Stanley Cup.
“We don’t have anything to measure ourselves against, so that is kind of what we have created.
“And you don’t think these people are coming out here, competitive amongst themselves to see if they can not let anybody down.
“It’s so important for these people to show that this is the best coming out here.”
Tarry agreed that these eight builds – once some additional work is completed on this portion of the property – could go up for rental ahead of schedule.
“That’s the goal, let’s get them rented.”

“If someone wants to be part of a foundational, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of something transformational, Project Tiny Hope is your answer.”

One of the builders Tarry referenced is Rick Leitao of Woodfield Design and Build (see group photo above) based out of London, the winning team in the blitz build.
Asked if he had ever built a house in a three-day span he laughed, “Never, usually four months is a record.
“We had a pep talk with Doug at the very beginning, and then we had our pep talk with our team of heroes, as I like to call them.
“An amazing group of guys and girls working on this house.
“It’s amazing to think less than 48 hours ago, we didn’t have anything really above the first level.
“A lot of it is a passion for what we do, a passion for the cause and a great effort from everybody.”
And as things wrapped up for the day, Rice pointed out the fundraising continues for Project Tiny Hope.
“If someone wants to be part of a foundational, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of something transformational, Project Tiny Hope is your answer.
“There are so many innovative pieces to this project, you are going to want to say, ‘I was part of that.’
“For generations to come who are being housed beyond all of our lifetimes, you are going to want to be part of that.”
For more information on Project Tiny Hope, visit https://ywcaste.ca/project-tiny-hope.

SOMETHING ‘REALLY NEAT’ AT PROPOSED WASTEWATER FACILITY

A public information centre was held Wednesday (Sept. 25) at Memorial Arena, the second such session for this significant undertaking.
The first public information centre was held in June of this year to provide details on the best location for the city’s new water reclamation facility (WRF).

We spoke with the city’s Senior Project Manager, Industrial Development Patrick Anckaert about the purpose of the second information centre.
“We recommended Site 3 (see map) and what we’re doing in this one is we’re looking at different technologies that the plant would actually use.
“What we’re recommending in this case is a conventionally activated sludge plant, which is very similar to what is currently existing (at the facility on Sunset Drive).
“As part of this project, we are doing something really neat with this sludge.
It’s called a Lystek system and it’s nutrient recovery. It takes the phosphorus and nitrogen that is still in that biosolid and processes that into something that can be land applied and put back into the nutrient cycle.
“So we’re not just landfilling that material, we’re able to re-use it.”

“But, this facility will be brand new and we have the chance to implement odour control technologies upfront and right away.”

A key takeaway is don’t judge this new water reclamation facility but what has long been operational at the existing water treatment plant.
“The Sunset facility has had challenges in the past and we have a project right now, an odour control project, to make that facility better.
“But, this facility will be brand new and we have the chance to implement odour control technologies upfront and right away.
“In terms of the feedback we have received at this meeting, I think it really relates to the first meeting where people were concerned about how it looked from the street.
“So, we have some things like berms and tree planting and I think a lot of people are happy about that.”
Moving forward, we asked Anckaert about a projected start date for this substantial undertaking.

“Yes, there is a lot of development pressure right now that the city is feeling related to PowerCo (the EV battery giga) and that trickles all the way down to our existing pollution control plant.
“So, to really unlock further development in the city, we need to build this pollution control plant as Mayor Joe (Preston) put it, as soon as possible.
“Sooner rather than later is definitely the answer,” with the projection at this time of opening in 2028-29.
“But, it’s still respecting processes and procedures as well as feedback from the public.”

OUR OWN ROCKY

The newest member of the St. Thomas Police Service is being described as having the ability to catch a lot of bad guys.
A special graduation ceremony was held at the police station on Friday (Sept. 27) to officially welcome Rocky on board.
That would be PSD Rocky who is partnered with Const. Kyle Beech, giving police a second K9 unit, working in tandem with Const. Sean James and PSD Axle.

At Friday’s ceremony, Chief Marc Roskamp observed, “As part of the ongoing modernization efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of our community and all police service members, we’ve enhanced our capabilities with a second K9 team to our existing unit.

“So, from a humble beginning running the streets as a homeless pup, I am proud to issue PSD Rocky his St. Thomas Police Service badge today.”

“This additional resource will support and enhance deployment strategy to ensure the increasing demands of front-line policing and investigation are addressed.”
Roskamp continued, “Each dog has been chosen for its good health, temperament and training ability.
“Once selected, the dog is assigned to a handler who must meet certain requirements.
“This new team has been involved in rigorous training over the summer with the London Police Service. During this period, Const. Beech and PSD Rocky have been taught obedience, agility, tracking, property and evidence searches, area searches, building searches, handler protection and criminal apprehension.
“So, from a humble beginning running the streets as a homeless pup, I am proud to issue PSD Rocky his St. Thomas Police Service badge today.
“I would like to also congratulate Const. Beech on completing the training and taking on this new role which is not easy and requires deep commitment, professionally and personally with his family.”
Well, it seems PSD Rocky couldn’t wait for all the formalities and was involved in his first track and arrest on Wednesday (Sept. 25).
Const. Beech and PSD Rocky located an individual in a heavily wooded area who was wanted on outstanding warrants dating back to 2021.
The 42-year-old city resident was remanded into custody.

FOR THE CALENDAR

Monday is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day and a ceremony will be held over the noon hour at city hall.
If you are attending, you are encouraged to wear orange to honour the survivors of residential schools and their families.
A traffic note, Mondamin Street will be closed to traffic from 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. for the event.

Questions and comments may be emailed to City Scope

Visit us on Facebook

And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.