Transitional Housing in the Heart of Downtown Toronto

Tiny Tiny Homes is proud to share the successful delivery and installation of four Tiny Tiny Homes at Lazarus House, a transitional housing site operated by Seeds of Hope Foundation in downtown Toronto on Queen Street.

Seeds of Hope Foundation is a long-standing Toronto-based charity dedicated to creating places of hope, belonging, and community for individuals facing homelessness, crisis, and other life-disrupting challenges. Through a range of supportive programs and housing initiatives, Seeds of Hope works to help people move toward stability, dignity, and self-determination in a compassionate, community-centered way. 

Lazarus House itself provides short-term emergency transitional housing and supports for people experiencing homelessness as they work toward longer-term housing and well-being. By combining safe shelter with connection to supportive services, Seeds of Hope supports residents to make meaningful progress in their lives. 

The four Tiny Tiny Homes installed on the Lazarus House premises are already operational and occupied. Each unit is a private, fully insulated and heated living space that features ample built-in storage for personal belongings. Residents enjoy the privacy and autonomy of their own units and also have full access to the washroom and kitchen facilities at Lazarus House that offers food staples, pantry items and pre-prepared meals, ensuring comfort, access to balanced meals, personal hygiene resources and community connection.

A Collaborative Model in Action

This project reflects the strength of collaboration between Tiny Tiny Homes and Seeds of Hope — combining purpose-built housing with Seeds of Hope’s proven supportive model to enhance housing stability and quality of life for individuals transitioning out of homelessness.

Shared Commitment, Lasting Impact

We are grateful to Seeds of Hope Foundation and the Lazarus House team for their leadership, compassion, and dedication to serving some of Toronto’s most vulnerable residents. We look forward to continuing our partnership to build solutions grounded in dignity, community, and long-term impact.

A Land-Based Approach to Stability and Care

Seeds of Hope Farm offers a setting that supports more than shelter. Located outside the pressures of daily street life, the farm provides space for routine, reflection, and connection. By placing Tiny Tiny Homes within this environment, the project creates a calmer, more intentional setting for residents beginning their next steps.

This partnership reflects a shared belief that housing is not only about structure, but about the environment that surrounds it.

Two Tiny Homes, Thoughtfully Placed

Two Tiny Tiny Homes were installed at the farm to provide residents with private, insulated, and lockable living spaces. Each unit offers warmth, protection from the elements, and a stable place to rest and recover.

Set within a working farm environment, the tiny homes support a slower and more grounded transition. Residents are able to experience daily rhythms and a sense of place while maintaining privacy and independence.

A Land-Based Partnership

The Seeds of Hope Farm project highlights the importance of diverse housing models. Not every solution looks the same, and not every path forward begins in an urban setting. This installation demonstrates how mission-aligned land can be thoughtfully used to create meaningful housing opportunities when paired with trusted partners and clear stewardship.

Shared Values, Shared Work

Tiny Tiny Homes and Seeds of Hope Foundation share a commitment to dignity, compassion, and practical action. This collaboration shows what is possible when organizations work together to support people during critical moments of transition.

Rooted in Care

The Seeds of Hope Farm installation stands as a quiet example of what transitional housing can look like when it is rooted in place, relationship, and respect. Tiny Tiny Homes is grateful to Seeds of Hope Foundation for their partnership, trust, and leadership in community-based care.

A Collaborative Outreach Space for Winter Support

At Dundas and Sherbourne, Tiny Tiny Homes operates a dedicated street outreach unit created in collaboration with Reed In The Street. The unit serves as both a functional outreach space and a visible symbol of care, creativity, and community-led support during Toronto’s winter months.

Together, the two organizations transformed a Tiny Tiny Home into a mobile hub stocked with winter jackets, sleeping bags, blankets, and other essential cold-weather supplies for people living outdoors.

Built and Stocked for Street-Level Outreach

As shown in recent on-the-ground videos shared by Reed In The Street, the unit was thoughtfully organized to hold and distribute winter gear directly from the street. The interior was set up to make supplies easy to access and distribute, allowing volunteers to respond quickly to what people need most in the moment.

This practical setup helps outreach teams meet people where they are, without requiring them to travel or navigate formal systems during extreme cold.

Art, Visibility, and Care

In addition to its functional role, the outreach unit was painted and finished with custom exterior artwork through Reed In The Street. The artwork transformed the tiny home into something welcoming and human, helping it stand out not as a service vehicle, but as a shared community space.

The creative collaboration reflects a shared belief that dignity matters, not just in what is provided, but in how it is offered.

A Shared Approach

This project represents a true collaboration between Tiny Tiny Homes and Reed In The Street, combining mobile shelter design, grassroots outreach, and creative expression. The result is a unit that provides warmth, supplies, and connection during the hardest months of the year.

How to Support

The Dundas & Sherbourne outreach unit is sustained through community donations. Contributions help keep the unit stocked with winter supplies and allow outreach teams to continue supporting people on the street.

👉 Donate Here

A Tent-To-Home Transition in The Heart of Toronto

In the depths of Toronto’s winter, when the temperature drops and tents offer little protection, a group of five mobile tiny homes arrived at St. James Park—a bold, immediate answer to one of the city’s most urgent problems: unsheltered homelessness.

The non-profit Tiny Tiny Homes deployed five custom-built units in the park, giving five local residents a chance to move from tents into insulated, secure dwellings. Each tiny home represented one tent removed from the park and one person moved into dignity, warmth, and safety. The program ran from October 2024 to June 2025 and received overwhelming community support, with many local residents, workers, and passersby embracing the effort and encouraging the residents who moved in.

The project made national headlines when one resident described the moment he moved into his tiny home as: “When I say I’m going home, I’m going home… and that means the world.” Global News+1

Why This Project Mattered

• The housing crisis in Toronto continues to deepen, with encampments visible across downtown parks. Many residents face extreme cold, inadequate shelter, and uncertainty.
• Tiny Tiny Homes proved a scalable, rapid-deployment model: each unit is mobile, insulated and designed to deliver dignity, warmth and privacy.
• The St. James project demonstrated what’s possible when innovation meets compassion—showing that real solutions can come out of urgency and creativity.
• Four out of the five people who participated in the program ultimately moved into housing, proving the model can lead directly to long-term stability.

The Impact on Individuals

Among the five residents, several were living in tents or on the margins of the shelter system. One man, Brent Blake, said that moving from a tiny home to a permanent apartment after the project made him feel like he “meant something.” Read more here. The project offered more than just a roof—it offered hope, stability and a clear step toward a better future.

Lessons For Community-Scaled Solutions

• Speed matters. When the cold hits, solutions must be deployed rapidly.
• Mobility is an asset. Trailer-based tiny homes allow quick placement in suitable locations.
• Dignity is non-negotiable. Private, safe space changes everything for residents.
• It's not “forever” housing. These homes are transitional, one link in the journey from encampment to stable home.
• Collaboration matters. The effort gained traction because residents, non-profits, private builders and the city engaged together—even if controversy followed.

A Look Ahead

While the St. James initiative is a pioneering example, it also highlighted the challenges. The city asked for the shelters to be removed from the park, citing zoning and public space concerns. See the CityNews Toronto Article Here. Many advocates say this underscores the need for dedicated sites and pathways that span beyond emergency shelter toward permanent housing and wrap-around supports.

Partnering With Tiny Tiny Homes

If your organization or municipality is interested in replicating or scaling the model, Tiny Tiny Homes offers design, deployment and operations advice built from the St. James experience. Every unit is crafted to integrate with outreach services, infrastructure and community supports.