Shipping container homes a 'win-win' for homeless on Vancouver Island

Near the banks of the Tsolum River in Courtenay, B.C., sits a tiny steel house with a big purpose.

The home, built out of an old shipping container, will soon be occupied by someone whohad nowhere to live and is the result of a partnershipbetween the local rotary cluband Dawn to Dawn: Action on Homelessness Society.

It is the first of four structures expected to be built at the Maple Pool Campground by June.

"They're just lovely," said Charlene Davis, president of the Rotary Club of Comox, in a phone interview on CBC's On The Island, adding they come equipped with bathroom and kitchen facilities and there are future plans to addgreen roofsand front porches.

The containers, according to Davis, are themselves a problem because they arrive in B.C. full and it is too expensive to ship them back empty, so they are often abandoned.

"Shipping containers are a win-win when it comes to small homes," said Davis, noting they are not onlyaffordable and sustainable, they are fairly indestructible and if the interior getsdamaged, they can be gutted.

The total cost for the home came in at under $20,000, which included purchasing the container, moving it to the site and retrofitting the interior. It measures eight feet wide by 20 feet long, and can accommodate two people. An occupant has already been chosen for the first home.

All four homes will be situated atMaple Pool Campground, a 10-acre site minutes from Courtenay's city centre.

According to the 2018 Report on Homeless Counts in B.C., the Comox Valley which includes the municipalities of Courtenay, Comox and Cumberland had 117 homeless people, more than half of whom were unsheltered.

To hear the complete interview with Charlene Davis, click on the audio link below: