{"id":799069,"date":"2026-07-13T12:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/799069\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T12:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:42:20","slug":"tiny-homes-in-kemptville-are-making-a-big-difference-for-low-income-seniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/799069\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny homes in Kemptville are making a big difference for low-income seniors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Kim Hayes says her new tiny home in Kemptville, Ont., means everything to her.<\/p>\n

“It’s stability. It’s home. And it’s something I haven’t felt for over 18 years, so it’s a big deal,” says Hayes, who’s moved 28 times over nearly two decades in search of a more affordable life.<\/p>\n

She’s now occupying one of the first four independent living units built by the Shalom Small Homes project, with the support of the community just outside Ottawa.<\/p>\n

The not-for-profit was founded four years ago to provide affordable housing for low-income senior citizens struggling to pay market rent in larger homes, said co-founder Cora Beking.<\/p>\n

That struggle was something she observed while volunteering with the annual community Christmas dinner, Beking said.<\/p>\n

“You could tell that people needed their own place to stay and it just wasn’t affordable,” she said.<\/p>\n

Shalom Small Homes completed the four units last year and is now fundraising to build 16 more.<\/p>\n

But making the vision of affordable rent for seniors a reality took the buy-in of the local community. After partnering with North Grenville Mayor Nancy Peckford, the municipality made land available on a 40-year lease. <\/p>\n

Skilled volunteers and local contractors then helped build the single-storey 600-square-foot units, according to Shalom Small Homes founder Janne Ritskes.<\/p>\n

Even with all that support, the initial cost estimate of $50,000 per unit ballooned to $125,000, Ritskes said \u2014 underscoring the difficulty of providing affordable living on the open market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Irrespective of those construction costs, rent is calculated at a third of a tenant’s income and includes incidentals like water and snow removal in winter.<\/p>\n

“So they hopefully have enough to be able to pay their bills, buy food, and go out for coffee or something once in a while,” said Ritskes, who returned to Canada after a career abroad working in poor communities with faith-based organizations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThe Shalom Small Homes project has built four affordable homes for seniors in Kemptville, Ont., with plans for another 16 units. (Submitted by Shalom Small Homes)<\/p>\n

Hayes returned to Kemptville after losing her job in a kitchen during the pandemic. When her life “went sideways again because of [prices] and stuff,” she said she applied to the Shalom Small Homes project.<\/p>\n

Like the other units, Hayes’s is a single-storey semi-detached, with a combined living room and kitchen, a bedroom, and a full bathroom with a washer and dryer. <\/p>\n

There’s even a patio and yard with planter boxes.<\/p>\n

“This house is everything to me,” she said.<\/p>\n

‘A gift from God’<\/p>\n

Next door, Anne Wolfe described the residents of the tiny homes as “a bunch of really nice ladies.”<\/p>\n

“We all live our own lives, but we all get along as well,” she said.<\/p>\n

Wolfe choked back tears as she described her own unit as her “pride and joy” and the start of a new life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“As a senior, sometimes you don’t have the means for a place that’s really expensive. And I had no place to go, so this was a gift from God,” she said.<\/p>\n

With the success of the pilot project, Ritskes says she’s now fielding about five calls a week from other seniors searching for affordable housing.<\/p>\n

That’s provided the impetus to continue expansion plans, with Shalom Small Homes launching a campaign to raise $2 million to build 16 more units \u2014 something Ritskes notes could be achieved if a million Canadians just chip in a toonie.<\/p>\n

“Canadians are compassionate,” Ritskes said. “Given an opportunity, they always deliver.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-799069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}