By sharing our homes, we can help ease the housing crisis in the city at the same time as we help with climate change. That was the key message at the June 5 home sharing event organized by Eco-Locke and held in the sanctuary of the First Unitarian Church of Hamilton. Graham Cubitt of Indwell was moderator.
As Tom Cassidy pointed out , if there’s one person in a housing unit and a second moves in, the carbon emissions per capita of that unit are halved. About 30 per cent of bedrooms are empty, so there is a lot of capacity to share and boost energy efficiency.
Daphne Payne of First Unitarian said she really enjoyed twice sharing her spare bedroom with a graduate student. In exchange for a low rent, the students did small chores she couldn’t handle. More important, they were good company. Daphne got involved through McMaster’s Symbiosis project: https://gs.mcmaster.ca/current-students/resources/spices/current-initiatives-2019-20/symbiosis/
Mary Taylor described Spaces Shared https://www.spacesshared.ca/home which similarly connects hosts, typically older adults, and students needing housing, and handles background checks and payments. In Hamilton, it is working with Mohawk College.
My Canadian Family http://www.mycanadianfamily.com/ and HomeStay https://www.mlihomestay.com/ are programs that arrange for families to host foreign students attending high school here, either over the summer or for the school year.
Emma Cubitt, who has done more than anyone to push the city of Hamilton to facilitate creation of secondary units here, described several backyard projects she’s worked on through Invizij architects. The city is waiving development fees on new secondary units, which she said could be worth about $35,000, and also providing small loans for more affordable units. To learn more, look for the Hamilton accessory dwelling unit group on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/hamiltonsdus/
Ken Bekendam through Legal Second Suites https://legalsecondsuites.com/ helps people deal with the legal issues around creating another apartment in your home or a secondary dwelling in your backyard. They’ve helped create 800 units across Ontario.
Siobhan Koch is co-founder of IMBY—In My Back Yard www.imbyhomes.org–which works with homeowners and other organizations, including Indwell, Invizij and Open Homes Hamilton (see below), to create backyard secondary homes for people at risk of becoming homeless. It’s an exciting charity effort that uses donated labour to help lower costs and focuses on building not just homes but community. It managed to build a one-bedroom unit for $150,000, about half the normal cost.
Rashid Afif, CEO of Wesley, described Wesley’s extensive work housing refugees in Hamilton. https://wesley.ca/program/newcomer-community/ Wesley has been particularly active in housing refugees from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Katie Carson described Open Homes Hamilton https://www.iafr.ca/open-homes-hamilton.html which arranges for refugee claimants who are not supported by the government or other organizations to be housed with Hamilton families. It is affiliated with the International Association for Refugees Canada.
A very different project is the Caroline Street housing co-op. It’s a groundbreaking achievement. Jacob Hoytema said that when tenants at 272 Caroline S. learned their building was for sale, they arranged—through a lot of hard work and financial support—to buy it. When the deal closes this month, the building will run as a co-op, managed by those who live there and preserving current affordable rents. https://272carolinestreet.com/
Learn about other actions needed to solve our housing and homeless crisis. Watch the video of the Housing Solutions Now! event, with Graham Cubitt of Indwell, Medora Uppal of YWCA Hamilton, Bill Johnston of First Unitarian Church of Hamilton and Karl Andrus and Mohammed Alshalalfeh of the Hamilton Community Benefits Network on housing policy and funding solutions for Hamilton. https://uuhamilton.ca/affordable-housing/ You can also read two of the presentations.