A Victoria initiative housing the city’s most vulnerable is marking a significant milestone this weekend, highlighting another initiative to celebrate.
On May 14th, 2021, residents moved into Tiny Homes Village—an innovative transitional housing solution in North Park, next to Royal Athletic Park, built from repurposed shipping containers.
Together with the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homeless, Our Place and over 580 donors, Aryze Developments constructed Tiny Homes Village in under six months.
They hoped to ease the local housing and homelessness crisis, providing 30 safe, warm and secure homes, each with a private entrance, heating, ventilation, bed, wardrobe and fridge.
To mark the village’s first anniversary, Aryze points to Bill’s Bag Lunches—a weekly meal program that includes deliveries to residents of Tiny Homes.
“I started this bag lunch program with the goal of continuous growth in the number of lunches being delivered,” said program founder Bill Farrant.
“When I learned about the launch of Tiny Homes Village, I saw the opportunity for a natural progression to expand the program to a new neighbourhood in need, in addition to the Ellice Street Community in Rock Bay.”
At Tiny Homes, two meals a day are delivered daily, and residents have access to a common area to reheat the food.
Bill’s Bag Lunches hand-delivers a sandwich, apple, cookie and water each Friday, all funded by local businesses and community members and matched by The City of Victoria’s My Great Neighbourhood Grant.
According to Aryze, the initiative continues to seek donations to expand further, supporting existing operations for the Ellice Street Community and the Tiny Home Village.
To donate, email hello@billsbaglunches.com.
