SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Manuel Jorge doesn't like the term 'tiny home.'
"A home is what you can afford - no home is tiny or big," the Energy Wall Systems Ltd., owner said during a discussion about his latest attempt to bring affordable housing to Yellowknife.
He said he first proposed the idea of an affordable housing neighbourhood in Yellowknife's Grace Lake area prior to the city's initial decision to develop the north side of the lake. At the time, the city only seemed interested in up-scale waterfront properties worth upward of $400,000. He said this attitude was excluding young families and the working class which he said comprised a majority of the city's population.
"How many high-end people are in the City of Yellowknife? How many are there who are working class people?" he said. "I'm talking about the starter families - are they left behind?"
Approved in November, the newest section - Grace Lake South - will include 81 single-family lots with an adjacent walking trail and golf course where the Arctic Farmer sod farm is currently located. The 1,400 square-foot lots are three times larger than most others in the city and the neighbourhood would have to have its water trucked in and sewage trucked out.
Jorge said he is proposing to purchase the land from the city and develop what he has termed, "flex housing."
The dwellings would start around 600 square feet with a similar layout to that of a one-bedroom apartment unit and cost less than $175,000. He said the lots would be laid out with expansion in mind, so residents can add to their houses in the future. He expects the lots would have an 100-foot frontage and be 200-feet deep.
"Flex housing to me is you build what you need and adapt as you need but you have the land to do that," he explained. "That's the key."
Jorge isn't the first to bring forward an alternative.
A neighbourhood of tiny homes was pitched to city council in September by Yellowknifer Etienne Croteau after he constructed a 350-square-foot plywood house on wheels. The houses, which can cost as little as $20,000 to build, were suggested as an affordable alternative to renting in a market where mortgages are out of reach for many.
Jorge said he had his children in mind when he developed the flex housing proposal.
"I have two children and I question myself, how are they going to be able to afford their own home?" he said. "Today I feel young people are buying a debt, they are no longer buying an asset."
Coun. Julian Morse originally voted against the Grace Lake South development but said he became more open minded about the initiative once he received additional information, adding land availability is a long-standing issue when it comes to housing costs in the city.
"I don't love Grace Lake but at the same time, it's become pretty obvious to me that we have limited options for opening land up for development," he said. "Housing becomes more affordable the more land that you make available ... if people want to buy that land, then it makes sense to put it on the market."
He said city councillors met with Yellowknife MLAs on Feb. 16 to discuss increased land availability and city staff are working on developing options for tiny homes. In the meantime, condos might be a better option for those who cannot afford a detached home, he said.
"I don't think Yellowknife is going to get to the point where we can't have people buying detached homes," he said. "That would involve destroying the property value in the city which I think would be very negative."
Mayor Mark Heyck said he isn't sure Grace Lake would be the best site for a small home development but said staff are currently surveying city land for potential affordable housing locations. The city also has several land applications submitted to the GNWT.
"I can't say whether (Grace Lake) would accommodate that kind of development but certainly our planners are looking at different areas of the city," he said. "There are parcels of land being identified throughout the city that could accommodate a tiny home development."
Although affordable housing has been identified as a priority over the next three years, Heyck said it is still important to provide a range of residential options.
"Tiny homes are not going to be for everybody," he said. "The key is that we're providing a range of housing options."
