A tiny home neighbourhood created with repurposed shipping containers may soon replace the tent village housing homeless individuals who shifted over from a soggy Central Park.

Aryze Developments, with the support of the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, will apply for a temporary use permit to build up to 30 single-occupancy units on the Caledonia Avenue parking lot next to Royal Athletic Park. If the final plan is approved by council, an operator selected by BC Housing would manage the short-term facility.

Victoria council, sitting as committee of the whole Thursday and having committed to housing all of the city’s homeless by March 31, expedited the process by voting to authorizing Aryze to apply to build the units. Neighbourhood consultation must still be done before the project comes back to council for a final vote.

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Newly elected Coun. Stephen Andrew said during discussions that the city needs to start looking at such projects as neighbourhood agreements to allow for greater public involvement.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to show the entire region how these projects can work and how they can be integrated into the neighbourhood,” he said.

The units would be 160 square feet and contain a bed, desk, hotplate and fridge. The plan calls for shared washroom and shower facilities.

Any city-incurred expenses related to the project’s startup would be covered by money from the federal-provincial restart funding the city received.

Watch victoria.ca for further details about the upcoming public consultation.

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