why ottawa is turning to tent-like housing for newcomers — here’s what you need to know
the city's controversial plan to build semi-permanent structures in nepean and kanata aims to address the housing crisis for refugee claimants.
13 minute read
a group of close to a hundred area residents gathered to protest at the location of a proposed tent-like structure for temporary housing of asylum seekers at the nepean sportsplex in late november.
ashley fraser
/
postmedia
when the city announced it had chosen two sites to build semi-permanent structures to house asylum seekers and newcomers, the news sparked a firestorm in the suburbs. one site is near the nepean sportsplex. the other near the eagleson road park and ride in kanata. called “tensile membrane structures” or “sprung structures” — although that’s a brand name — these would house the newcomers on a temporary basis. the goal is to get them up and running by the end of 2025.
here’s what we know about the sites, how the decision was made and what’s next:
why does ottawa need tent-like housing?
newcomers arriving in ottawa have been staying in community centres. the original direction from city council, about a year and a half ago, was to free up the community centres. the city staff were instructed to come up with a solution, get the estimates, and come up with the two sites.
staff started looking at procurement and land requirements, which resulted in a list presented to city council in july.
“those community centres were not designed for that purpose,” said mayor mark sutcliffe on nov. 8. “they were designed to be community centres for their neighbourhoods, and instead, we’re putting up bunk beds in gymnasiums, and that’s not ideal for the newcomers, and it’s not ideal for those communities.”
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there are 330 beds at temporary emergency overflow centres, two of which are operating out of city-owned recreation facilities.
temporary housing for newcomers will also take some of the pressure off shelters for the homeless.
“our beds are over capacity. mats have been full every night since we came out of the pandemic,” said peter tilley.
in 2023, the number of asylum seekers at the mission’s shelter increased significantly. by october 2023, 61 per cent of the beds were occupied by asylum seekers, with an average of 27 people sleeping on chairs in the shelter’s lounge area.
things have improved since then, but currently, nine people still sleep on mats every night at the mission and 10 to 15 people sleep in chairs, said tilley.
“the numbers have gone down as the city has been able to divert people.”
how does the reception centre model work?
there are several components in the newcomer reception centre. besides the two sites, the city also plans to buy up to 20 four- to five-bedroom homes scattered around the city as transitional housing. in october, the city announced it had purchased a former convent at 1754 st. joseph blvd. for use as transitional housing. a downtown office building at 230 queen st. is also being converted and is expected to be ready for use in january.
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the city is partnering with newcomer-serving community agencies and social services agencies to provide tailored on-site supports for the settlement needs of newcomers, such as employment support; interpretation and translation services; individualized case management for work permits; status hearings and benefits; and trauma support, said brown.
the city says shelter in the temporary structures will only be needed for 90 days. what’s the process of getting people into permanent housing, given the housing crisis?
the sites will be used by single individuals. according to data of those who are already in the community shelter system, 62 per cent are men and 38 per cent are women. about 80 per cent are between the ages of 20 and 49.
the centres are only part of the model and are intended to be a short-term housing solution. the model includes transitional housing using the matthew house model. newcomers who don’t resolve their homelessness within 90 days would go to a scattered site or a site like st. joseph.
“it’s really about creating that system flow,” said kale brown, the city’s acting director of housing and homelessness services.
a dance performance by the rjm-cw dance team added to the festive, inclusive atmosphere at the rally organized by refugee613 in november to show support for newcomers and the proposed tent-structures plan.
ashley fraser
/
postmedia
what were the criteria for choosing the sites?
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the considerations included walkability and access to health care and other services, available wastewater and water services, environmental considerations and transportation as well as “compatibility between the proposed development and the surrounding neighbourhood’s context with respect to density, built form, height and massing.”
of the original 92 initial candidate sites, 49 had limited or no access to transit and 59 of the sites had low walkability.
the site at 1645 woodroffe ave. is a portion of the nepean sportsplex. the section to be developed is bounded by the ottawa-carleton district school board education centre — the former confederation high school — to the west, west hunt club road to the north, a wooded area to the east and the sportsplex to the south.
the parcel is currently owned by the ncc. the city’s assessment of the site said it has an existing lease for an under-utilized football field. the site has a “somewhat low level of walkability,” but it has access to bus rapid transit and is less than five kilometres to a future phase 2 lrt station.
“from an operations perspective, the co-location of the nepean sportsplex on site could allow for additional programming space for the reception centre,” the report said.
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what were some of the other top candidate sites?
originally, 1671/1661 st. laurent blvd. and 2060 lanthier dr. in orléans were considered to be top picks.
but the st. laurent site was discarded from the process because servicing for the site will be challenging, and the parcels contribute to a sanitary sewer catchment that is already experiencing capacity issues and is associated with historical flooding, and it was being kept for industrial use under the official plan.
the lanthier site is bounded by a loblaws and a hydro substation and the area to the west is being developed, to be connected via an extension of vanguard drive. the analysis concluded that building a semi-permanent structure on the site would delay construction of the road and affect the planned development.
are other sites still considered top candidates?
the report listed three other sites that came in the top five:
- 1005/1045 greenbank rd. is bounded by the transitway, a rail line and a four-lane arterial road. “it is ideal for a temporary structure since the site cannot be redeveloped in the long term as there are plans for an lrt maintenance yard in the future on portions of the site,” said the report.
- 3311 woodroffe ave. is a vacant portion of the nepean woods park and ride, bounded by woodroffe, the transitway and crestway drive. it is adjacent to a bus rapid transit station and is about five kilometres away from the limebank lrt station, as well as being a short walk to a grocery store and a pharmacy.
- 60 lees ave. is a vacant parcel of land southeast of the lrt station. it is being held as a part of the future alta vista corridor in the city’s transportation master plan. the eastern portion of the site “would remain unencumbered by the future corridor and is slated for future residential development,” according to a report to councillors.
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two of these will remain on the list of potential sites if the needs grow. additional environmental work has to be done on the 160 lees site, said brown.
“of the 92 sites we looked at, including city land and federal land, whether or not we build a sprung structure, the intention is to use all of our lands in our development pipeline to build affordable housing and supportive housing.”
the offload medicine transition unit was installed in response to the pandemic to increase temporary bed capacity at the ottawa hospital civic campus. similar tents are being proposed to house newcomers in nepean and kanata.
jean levac
/
postmedia
some city councillors have argued that modular buildings are a better solution because these buildings could repurposed. why sprung structures?
it all comes down to cost, versatility and the fact that there are few turn-key buildings available that would suit the purpose.
tensile membrane structures cost $30 per square foot less than mass timber, which would equate to $900,000 for a 30,000-square-foot building, which is the approximate size of the structure required based on programming requirements, according to a consultant’s report.
they can also be constructed within 12 months as opposed to 18 months for mass timber buildings.
another important consideration is future adaptability of the structure. tensile membrane structures can be disassembled, reconfigured repurposed, or relocated to another site, while mass timber buildings are not typically designed and constructed to be disassembled and relocated.
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the structures are 30,000 square feet, about half the size of of football field. they’re very different from inflatable domes, which are less insulated and constructed in a different way, said brown.
in other cities, the tents have been used as libraries, community centres and pickleball facilities, he said. “the insides are completely reconfigurable and relatively cheap to create an additional wall.”
the choices of sites appear to have blindsided the councillors of the wards with the two chosen sites. what happened?
knoxdale-merivale coun. sean devine, whose ward includes the 1645 woodroffe site, said he had no inkling that his ward was under consideration and learned the site was confirmed on the afternoon of nov. 7.
kanata south coun. allan hubley said he heard the news about the same time and was inundated with calls when members of the public learned of the plan.
“first and foremost, we were directed by council to get this out,” said brown.
“there’s a lot of urgency to get this out for next winter. we had received the consultant’s report that essentially gave us the ability to make the decision on what were the top two sites, and within 24 hours, we had the memo out. there was an immense amount of urgency on the staff side. we had drafted the memo, talked about our process, but we didn’t know where the two sites would be based on the engineering report.”
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there was also a lot of interest in which sites would be chosen, said brown.
“we didn’t want to withhold information from the public. we had done the pre-work to draft the memo. as soon as we had that ability from the engineering report to make the financial decision, we got the memo out.”
what are the next steps for the city?
for the woodroffe site, the next step will be to advance planning applications and work with the national capital commission to obtain the necessary approvals.
for the hearst way site in kanata, a zoning report is expected to come before the planning and housing committee and city council in january. the site will require a land use change to a more sensitive residential land use.
site plan applications for both sites are to be submitted in early 2025, and city staff expect building permit applications for the structures will be submitted by the end of march and then move through the procurement process.
last march, the city agreed to spend $6 million to convert a downtown office building, 230 queen st., to transitional housing. brown expects it will be open in january.
moving people from the two physical distancing centres into the ymca and st. joseph, once they open, and queen street will mean, mathematically, that the city will be able to close the shelters in community centres.
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“but the big question for us going into the winter when it gets cold, is that we don’t know what inflow looks like until mid-december how many unsheltered folks will be coming inside looking to access a shelter bed,” said brown.
residents gathered to protest at the location of a proposed tent-like structure for temporary housing of asylum seekers at the nepean sportsplex recently.
ashley fraser
/
postmedia
some have claimed the sites will be like “refugee camps” or “encampments.” is that accurate?
not at all, says brown.
as it stands, people are sleeping on arena floors and the hallways of community centres.
“what we want to do, as quickly as possible, is move from extremely temporary emergency state to something that’s purpose-built,” said brown. “this is the quickest way to do something that’s purpose-built, that has some privacy, some walls around you, some storage space for your stuff, an actual bed instead of cots or temporary beds.”
these structures have running water, a commercial kitchen for food on site and wraparound supports.
“we want folks at these sites intensively working towards their housing goals. that’s where the supports are, and you’re expected to be working from a to b, through that settlement process and get housing,” said brown.
those living in the sites have a different profile than the chronically homeless.
“the level of needs and complexity is much lower than you would normally see in the shelter system,” said brown. “addictions and mental health are much less prevalent. across the board, it is much lower needs and it’s light touch supports compared to what we see in some of the more intensive, more supportive models.”
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the sites will have to go through the planning application process. can the process become “political” at that point?
mayor mark sutcliffe has said that it is not his role to interfere in the process.
“these are city-wide challenges that we have to face and the solutions will be somewhere,” he said on nov. 8 after the locations of the two sites were released.
the ontario planning act establishes the framework for land use planning in municipalities across the province. developments subject to planning applications are required to be consistent with the planning act/provincial policy statement and the city’s official plan, said brown.
“planning staff will review the required planning applications for the proposed newcomer reception centres based on how the proposed development conforms to the official plan, the zoning by-law, how it helps advance council’s priorities, and exhibits the principles of good planning. the planning application review process is not a political process; however, some applications, including zoning by-law amendments, are required to go before the planning and housing committee and council for approval.”
the city says there will be a consultation process but it “does not consider the end users of the type of structure used for the proposed development.” what will be up for discussion and what will not?
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staff will work with affected ward councillors to identify opportunities for information sessions where residents can ask questions on the proposed newcomer reception centre model, said brown.
“staff will be advancing the required zoning by-law amendment for 40 hearst way and site plan control applications for both sites in early 2025. the public will have an opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed concept plans for each site during the 28-day circulation period,” said brown.
“the zoning by-law amendment for 40 hearst way will rise to committee and, if passed, city council for approval. as is with all standing committee meetings, members of the public may provide written submissions or register to speak on items on the meeting’s agenda. in the interim, residents are encouraged to share feedback and suggestions through the engage ottawa page.”
a group of close to a hundred area residents gathered to protest at the location of a proposed tent-like structure for temporary housing of asylum seekers at the nepean sportsplex in november.
ashley fraser
/
postmedia
what are the top concerns so far?
brown says he hears a lot about people who are worried about their property values.
“we’re comfortable to say that these people want to integrate into the neighbourhood. they will be getting jobs in your community. it’s not the shelter population that needs a lot of extra supports, we now have five years of evidence from the sites we have been running as a city. we haven’t had any major community concerns other than the fact they don’t have their community centres available,” he said.
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“the big thing we want to do with this newcomer reception is to create a model that flows people through the system. this is because the population needs are different than somebody who might be destabilizing locally.”
does the city have federal funding in place for one or both of the sites? if so, how much?
the city has been in discussions with immigration, refugee and citizenship canada (ircc) for more than a year to get approximately $106 million to fund the development and operations of a newcomer reception model over two years, said brown.
there are three main elements in the proposal. there are the capital elements, like getting the sites. a significant portion is to operate those sites, including the staffing.
“we’ve asked for everything. that includes the facility maintenance, light, power, everything. it’s a comprehensive 100 per cent funded. and then there’s the one-time set-up costs, like buying the beds.”
about half of it is for the capital element, and half is for operating and site setup, he said.
“we’re asking for the capital upfront, so the city would own these structures at the end of it. there’s no repayment of a loan.”
when will the federal funding be confirmed?
brown expects that will be soon.
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with the final site and building mechanisms confirmed, city staff are seeking a formalized letter of commitment for funding from ircc both capital costs, and operating costs through the end of 2026.
“we don’t have an exact timeline for a response, but we expect it to be soon because we need that response to be able to pursue the next steps on this,” said brown.
“we want to make sure this is federally funded before we go too far down that road. we still understand from the federal government that they’re committed to working with us on this, so we expect to hear very shortly. and of course, we want to have these in place next winter so we have adequate capacity.”
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