Letter from the Editor

Where we live has to be just right; whether it’s size, type of home or location. The right solution may be a gorgeous log home, or a prefab home that can be constructed in a few weeks. Perhaps it’s a tiny home on wheels, or even a home constructed in a shipping container.

Our feature in this issue explores all of these options, including shipping-container homes that are sleek, utilitarian and settled next to, on top of or at right angles to each other. In fact, the city of Hamilton, Ont., has its first container home this year, which features six shipping containers stacked two-by-two and painted candy-apple red. And while many Canadian cities are slow to get onboard with this trend, it is going to happen.

In B.C., Squamish city staff is exploring how to proceed with tiny housing, whether the units are on wheels or set on foundations. And while zoning issues and city services need to be determined, officials are embracing the idea that different forms of housing can not only provide affordable options, but also inject a unique sense of style into the community.

Elsewhere, Hummingbird Homes pioneered Canada’s first tiny-house community— Bluegrass Meadows Micro Village—which opened in Terrace, B.C., in 2015. And in the U.S., one jurisdiction has fully embraced the trend: the small community of Salida in Colorado, about three hours from Denver, voted in 2016 to allow 200 tiny homes secured onto foundations. It is the largest tiny home community in the U.S.

So, to the local governments and municipalities that have yet to green-light these new forms of housing within conventional housing communities, may we suggest you try to keep up? After all, these prefab homes show that we are constrained only by our imaginations.

Lynn Mitges

Editor

Posted in Fall 2018