It's been ten days since the Homestead project was approved in Council, and the debate has not settled in the community.

The Town will be partnering with Vagabond Tiny Homes to build the Tiny Home ecovillage included in the first phase of the Homestead project. Thomas Grenier is the owner of Vagabond Tiny Homes and a board member of Realize Communities.

A recent Q and A with Coun. Florence Christophers on Facebook had intended to include Grenier and his perspective. Council asked Grenier to abstain from the conversation with Coun. Christophers while land lease negotiations continue.

Both Town Council and Vagabond have spoken about their excitement of the social and environmental value that can be produced by a project like this.

"Where we really needed a partner to work with is a municipality that would be willing to share in our collective vision and contribute their own ideas about what worked best for their own citizens, and collaborate with us on the best way to integrate a tinier micro-home village," Grenier said.

Grenier’s experience with tiny homes began three years ago when he built a tiny home on wheels in Aldersyde. His original intent was to build a few more tiny homes to compensate for the cost of his own, eventually moving to a piece of land and settling down.

Grenier first connected with the Town when he displayed his tiny home at an antique fair in 2017. 850 people dropped in over the course of a day, including several Town staffers. They left their cards and expressed interest in hearing a proposal on a tiny homes village from Grenier.

"There seemed to be this notion that Okotoks is a very vibrant and interesting community, and that's something that (Town administrators) want to cultivate over time," Grenier said. "Their hope seemed to revolve around this notion of having accessible housing, or affordable housing."

The tiny home lifestyle, which has become popularized through shows on networks like HGTV, appealed to Grenier because of the sustainable environmental benefits.

The plan for the tiny home development in D’arcy is to build something more than just a cluster of tiny homes. The current intention is to set up a non-profit that will govern the units and put the revenue from rent back into the community.

Community and wellness programming will be offered to the residents in a community building that will be built with the first phase of the housing project. Grenier plans to include a community kitchen, recreational area, and fitness space.

Grenier has an impassioned and ambitious vision of what this type of housing can provide the community.

“We really do want to be partners with Okotoks here,” Grenier said. “By setting it up with a non-profit, by trying to indicate to Okotoks that we are not only very interested in this type of housing but are very fundamentally interested and committed to making this a successful venture for tiny houses, so that it can be replicated across the country.”

“But also to try and approach houses a little bit differently, to try to strengthen what housing can be.”

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