‘Brings a smile to my face’: Tiny home program makes a difference in northern communities

Mark Pollard, dean of Trades and Industrial at SIIT, said they do a number of programs around building community housing capacity. He explained some of those programs include sustainable renovation and retrofit program and a home builder program that focuses on conventional sized homes. The tiny home program, however, was just developed this year.

The students at work. (Submitted Photo/Matthew McCallum)

“That was really to meet the needs of affordable housing in communities,” he said.

The program welcomed 12 students and ran over 12 weeks from September to December at the Meadow Lake campus before the home was delivered to FDFN earlier this month.

“It’s very much a hands-on program that teaches construction methodology from residential – right from framing, foundation framing, exterior cladding and finishing, roofing, interior cladding and finishing, insulation,” said Pollard.

According to Nick Derocher, newly elected FDFN councillor, prior to his current role, he was a construction supervisor with FD Housing Department and as the community has a partnership with the school, he worked alongside the instructors.

“We had some young band members from our First Nation that were attending the course and we know it’s gonna help our kids, help our youth become successful in their latter years,” he said, adding he gave as much time as he could.

His portfolio as a councillor includes housing, capital projects and land and resources.

“To me personally, it was a good feeling knowing that there was something like this for our people that maybe don’t have much direction in their life and to have the opportunity to learn in a good atmosphere,” he said.

McCallum was one of three students who was offered a job with Flying Dust Housing following the completion of the program and said they are in the middle of a number of builds.

“The tiny homes that we have going right now on Flying Dust they’re already taken and everything, they already have a deadline to be made,” he said of the construction site that will one day feature a neighbourhood of the pint-sized dwellings.

The SIIT dean said this is what the program was all about.

“The students are coming out with a real opportunity to enter into the residential…building job market and that’s something that’s growing very quickly in Saskatchewan,” he said.

“We’re in a national housing crisis and we definitely have more demand than supply out there.”

Dereocher agreed, saying it’s the most cost-effective way to get single people or elders into safe homes.

The students mid-work. (Submitted Photo/Matthew McCallum)

“A lot of times the houses we build on our First Nations, we look to getting families into the homes because we’re kind of restricted on how many houses we can build in here,” he said, adding sometimes those who are single are overlooked.

Now that lives are about to change as a family gets set to move in, Derocher said he sees it as a “step in the right direction” and added they always encourage people to be homeowners but sometimes, it’s not always possible.

“Some people do struggle with their own battles, and they do need help, they do need that guidance and that’s what we’re here for,” he said.

Meanwhile, McCallum may be finished with that particular project, but it hasn’t finished with him.

“That was something else, I even still drive by it to go see,” he said of the first tiny home of the program placed in his home community.

“It just brings a smile to my face knowing that we built that, and it’s built good and now we’re going to be putting a family in there here right away.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: juleslovett.bsky.social

by Julia Lovett-Squires

‘Brings a smile to my face’: Tiny home program makes a difference in northern communities

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