Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC) CEO Matt Jamieson says the decision on the organization's Tiny Homes Pilot Project will come in the next 30-45 days following a successful community open house last week.

SNGRDC said in an Aug. 29 media release that the decision would come within the next two months to see if the project will move past its preliminary phase and be officially introduced to the Six Nations community.

At the open house event, community members were invited to come and view the model tiny homes and get more information on the project was very successful. Jamieson says that an approximate 300 community members made their way to Oneida Business Park and over 125 community members have asked to be placed on the interested list for the tiny homes.

Initially, he says SNGRDC employees brought the project idea forward after identifying housing shortages within the community.

"I think it's no secret that folks in the community know we have a housing shortage. I think it was also motivated by the fact that the price of housing and housing construction is just sky high with interest rates and commodity pricing being up, so really the idea was born within the minds of our employees who came up with the idea," he said.

"We're really excited and really proud. We've got a great group of staff here who really as I said, this concept came from them. It didn't come from the board of directors, didn't come from me. It came from the staff living here, recognizing the challenges that their neighbors and family's face and coming up with an innovative solution and I'm excited by it and I'm hopeful we can announce positive movement in the coming months."

Jamieson says the organization's final decision will come after SNGRDC reviews the costs and risks associated with the project to be able to produce the homes for the Six Nations community.

"I think within the next 30-45 days we'll make a final determination. It really hinges on ensuring we've really quantified the costs and risks associated with engaging in sales agreements to produce these in a higher volume," he said.

"Those are all elements that we're working on right now," he added. "I really am excited by the prospect of this. I'm hopeful that we can move this thing forward but again, it does require due diligence on our part and it will require a fairly significant investment from SNGRDC to initiate the program to ensure its successful."

Right now in the preliminary phase, the project is featuring 2 tiny home models that community members can choose from a 480 square foot, 1-bedroom model; or a 960 square foot, 3-bedroom model. SNGRDC will provide the community members access to the affordable housing options but it will be the owners responsibility to provide the land, and utility services that include water, hydro and sewage systems.

Jamieson says SNGRDC are estimating that the 1-bedroom unit will cost approximately $150,000.00 and the 3-bedroom unit costing an estimated $200,000.00. Jamieson says SNGRDC's construction team worked closely with Six Nations Housing Department to ensure the homes meet the standard housing code's definition as complete and ensure that they complied with all the requirements of the Six Nations Housing program. The model homes will be available to be viewed by community members at the Oneida Business Park.

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