What to know
- Tiny Tiny Homes is building a 10-unit tiny home community on private land within south Scarborough to provide temporary shelter and support for people experiencing homelessness.
- The village, called Brent’s Place, will include insulated tiny homes, showers, laundry, community space, case management, and connections to healthcare, mental health, and housing services.
- The project honours Brent, a former Tiny Tiny Homes resident who moved into permanent housing before dying of terminal cancer in June 2025.
- The organization hopes to have all 10 units occupied by the end of 2026 and is raising $28,000 through GoFundMe for financial support.
A non-profit is building an entire tiny home community in Scarborough as a way to combat homelessness, with the project named and dedicated to one Toronto man.
Tiny Tiny Homes is an organization that provides those dealing with homelessness a safe place to stay as they wait to transition into a permanent home.
Ryan Donais is the Torontonian behind Tiny Tiny Homes. Donais created the initiative as a way to create real change amid a homelessness crisis.
He created the concept of tiny, mobile homes on bicycles, providing a way to shelter without being tied down to one location for those without a home.
The home provides shelter from the elements, keeping those inside safe; a security they normally wouldn’t feel when living on the streets or in a tent.
By collaborating with local communities, volunteers, and partners, Tiny Tiny Homes has been able to complete projects in four different communities, providing safe temporary shelter with around 12 tiny homes placed around the city so far.
With Donais’ latest project, he hopes to add another 10 homes to that total.
What the new community in Scarborough will provide
The mini village is currently under construction on an undisclosed private property in south Scarborough.
The designated area will provide:
- 10 fully insulated Tiny Tiny Homes
- Accessible washroom and shower facilities
- Laundry facilities
- A programming and community space
- Administrative and case management services
- Individualized support and peer support
- Assistance obtaining identification and government benefits
- Connections to healthcare, mental health and addiction services
- Housing navigation and landlord engagement
- Life skills programming and community-building opportunities
Tiny Tiny Homes is also raising money through a GoFundMe to financially support the project.
As of publication, the fundraiser has raised over $23,300 of its $28,000 total goal.
Brent’s Place’s inspiration
The Tiny Tiny Home village will be called Brent’s Place, named after a man experiencing homelessness who made an impact on Donais.
“He was a friend. A mentor. A volunteer. A skilled tradesman. A man with an infectious sense of humour and an unwavering belief in helping others, even when he himself had almost nothing,” the Tiny Tiny Homes website stated.
Donais met Brent on a below-freezing night in 2024, when he was sleeping in a doorway.
“[Brent] became one of the first residents of Tiny Tiny Homes’ St. James Park pilot project,” the organization shared. “[His] response to receiving a Tiny Tiny Home was one of overwhelming gratitude and an immediate desire to find ways to “pay it forward” by supporting those around him.”
Soon after, Brent was able to move into permanent housing before he passed from advanced, terminal esophageal cancer on June 27, 2025.
Tiny Tiny Homes’ website stated that if Donais didn’t find him, Brent could have died in that same doorway, instead of in the comfort, peace, and dignity that he did.
How residents in need can access a tiny tiny home
Brent’s Place is intended to be a bridge between homelessness and accessing permanent housing, while also giving those using the private space safety as well as on-site services to help rebuild their lives.
The organization says the goal is to have all 10 tiny home units occupied by the end of 2026.
Residents in need are able to be registered for Tiny Tiny Home services through the organization’s website, as they continue to build towards a future where no one is living unprotected on the streets.
