Letter to support Central Saanich motion on tiny houses.

This is the letter that will be read (not by me) in support of the tiny house motion being presented by Councillor Holman on July 30, which would prioritize some important first steps towards making tiny houses legal in that municipality.

Dear Mayor and Council;

My name is Karen Kehler. I have asked someone to read this letter on my behalf for two reasons. The first is a massive fear of public speaking. The second is simply that I am not comfortable stating my address for the records. That is because I live in a tiny house and therefore, although I do live locally, I am not a legal resident of Central Saanich.

Thank you to Council and staff for clarification at the July 9^th Council meeting that tiny homes are still to be considered in the Infill and Densification Review process even though they had not been included in either the public survey or open houses that have happened thus far. We are grateful for that inclusion and the opportunity for our group – Tiny Houses Advocates of Vancouver Island – to be involved in that process.

Our group is in total support of Councillor Holman’s motion on tiny houses. We believe that this issue needs to be looked at now. As tiny homes could potentially be tested with temporary use permits or pilot project status, it would make sense to look at tiny homes now instead of waiting for another year to even start talking about them.

I would like to address this motion primarily based on housing affordability. I chose to have a tiny home built because it was the only way that I could see to be able to stay in Victoria after I retire. It took me 30 years to get back to Vancouver Island and I don’t want to leave again!

I have to tell you that I love my tiny house! I love the comfort and efficiency of it. I love that I designed it to meet all my needs and wants with sufficient room for the things that are important to me. I love that I am living with a small environmental footprint. I love that my utilities cost less than $50/month. I love that it takes a leisurely 25 minutes for my weekly housework. I love that my Golden Retriever can still get to a full run down the length of the house in pursuit of her tennis ball. I love that living tiny will allow me to spend more time and money on the things I love. Most of all, I love that I will be able to live in my own home and age in place  with no need for subsidized housing. My housing costs – pad rental and utilities – will be under $550 a month. Now that is truly affordable housing!

In spite of all that, there are some negative things about living in a tiny home. Those negatives are caused from tiny homes not yet being recognized as an acceptable form of housing. In addition to have to live “illegally”, this also means that I could not get traditional financing, that I cannot get insurance for my home and that my nearest road access is not technically an address. This means that my house and my life are at risk if I need to call 911 and cannot be quickly located.

The biggest negative of living tiny is that I have no security. I have to hide my home as all it will take is one phone call from an anti-tiny-home Central Saanich resident (who does not even need to be a neighbour!) to cause the municipality to serve me with an eviction notice. I have lived in this community for nearly a year. I love it here and hope to be able to stay. I do not believe that I have any negative impact on the land, my neighbourhood or the community. And I fully believe that it is wrong for tiny house living to be wrong! In spite of my introverted and law-abiding nature, this is what has led me to become a tiny house advocate or, as a friend likes to call me, an “unlikely rebel”.

My father, a reknowned artist who taught ceramics workshops around the world, had a favourite saying that he used with his students and with his own work – Try It And See.

I think this motto is something that could be applied to tiny homes as well. Moveable tiny homes can be part of the solution to the affordable housing crisis that we are in now. I would love to see Central Saanich take this approach to become community leaders by incorporating tiny houses into the community as part of the affordable housing solution. Many Canadian communities are dealing with this issue and seem to be looking to see what actions are working in other municipalities before making big changes themselves. This is a chance for Central Saanich Council to demonstrate your strength, commitment, vision and leadership.

Thanks for listening! I would ask you each of you to support this motion as it is an important first step to allowing tiny houses to offer part of the solution to our local housing crisis. Please … let’s just TRY IT AND SEE!