Tiny, Tiny Homes
Ryan Donais, a construction manager from Toronto, started building tiny homes on wheels in July to address the city’s growing homelessness crisis, spurred on after his brother became homeless due to a long struggle with addiction.
Concerned about the rise of tent cities, Donais spent 100 hours developing a prototype and two months completing his first unit. Each home, made from fiberglass-reinforced plastic, includes basic amenities: a bed, desk, sink, and camping toilet.
His project, Tiny Tiny Homes, is now an official nonprofit, and he’s working on a second unit. The homes are insulated, weatherproof, solar-powered, and designed to offer temporary shelter with storage space for personal items. Donais stresses that these homes aren’t meant to be permanent solutions but a step toward permanent housing.
Donais is raising funds through GoFundMe to scale up production, with each unit costing about $5,000 to build. He’s also seeking material donations and a larger workspace to continue the project.