SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Judging by the size of the turn-out for a meeting last week, there seems to be a real appetite for building tiny homes in Yellowknife.

About 150 people showed up for a design competition and information session at the Top Knight last Thursday night. The tiny house movement is described as an architectural and social movement that advocates living in homes that are under 500 square feet (46 square metres).

According to Bronwyn Rorke, who helped organize the event, tiny homes are a way for people to enter the housing market in the city when they might otherwise might not be able to afford to. She said a tiny home can be built for between $30,000 and $100,000. Rorke added another advantage of tiny homes is they have a smaller carbon footprint than regular sized houses.

"If the city of Yellowknife were to release tiny lots they could do it around a central heating plant. The plant could feed all the tiny lots and tiny houses that surround it," Rorke said. "That's kind of like a co-op situation that would save on power which seems to be a big issue at the moment."

Rorke added if the city would help get a tiny-home neighbourhood going, then the entire area could work as a co-op by sharing tools and construction materials.

Rorke said she was overwhelmed by the number of people who turned out for the meeting.

"There were tiny houseboat owners, professionals, people who want to build tiny houses as well as skeptics of the idea," she said.

Rorke added they invited city staff to the meeting but she was told that they would decline the invitation. She said she is not sure why the city would not want to partner with her organization but suspects it may be because the city has its own plan for tiny homes.

However, last March, city council torpedoed an idea for tiny homes between Hordal Road and Bagon Drive. Prior to the vote back in March, director of planning and development Jeff Humble floated the idea of including zoning to allow tiny homes.

If it had been approved, it could have increased the potential density to 52 units of both tiny homes and single-family homes.

However, according to Humble, some councillors felt the area was too remote and not desirable for the tiny home market.

In an interview Tuesday, Humble said his department is supportive of the concept of tiny houses.

"We're probably going to have a memo coming forth sometime in the new year. Some of the big questions that we need to answer with council are the locations and whether these sites are going to be on trucked services or piped services," Humble said.

"It's going to be determined by what market is there for these tiny homes given the amount of infrastructure that needs to be costed into developing a tiny home subdivision."

Last week's event was organized by the NWT Association of Architects. Local architect Vince Barter was among those making a presentation.

"It's another form of development that has potential in the city. Based on the turn-out ... there is an interest," he said.

"Who knows what shape or form comes out of this ... but at the very least we are talking about new or different ways of developing and I think that's healthy."

City councillor Julian Morse was among those who attended.

"I was excited to see how many people take an interest in the tiny home concept. People are obviously very interested in it," Morse stated in an e-mail to Yellowknifer.

"(The) presentation was excellent and eye-opening, as it showed the economic challenges for a developer in getting tiny housing built in the North."

Morse also stated council has shown interest in making tiny housing happen here but added the main difficulty is the economics.

"If non-market land is required, how do we do that fairly, considering everyone who has paid market prices for their land?" Morse explained. "I am always open to hearing people's ideas on how to make these things happen, which is why I attended the event. I encourage people to get in touch."

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