Sudbury man building portable shelters to help people experiencing homelessness

It just took a few hours for Darren Ransom to build a simple structure with a frame made from plastic pipes, with removable foam walls. 

It may not look like much, but Ransom hopes the small shelter, which is similar in size to a tent, will offer some protection on cold winter nights. He says it will be the first of many mini shelters he plans to build, to give to people in Sudbury experiencing homelessness. 

"We're just trying to give people a place to sleep in the winter. Winter's here and it gets cold outside at nighttime," Ransom said.

He doesn't see the shelters as a solution to homelessness, but as he's seen more and more people living outdoors, he felt he had to do something to help. 

'Band-Aid' solution

Ransom has direct connections with many people living on the margins in Sudbury. He volunteers weekly at the Elgin Street Mission, and does other outreach work.  He says he's noticed growing rates of homelessness in the last few years. 

"It's unbelievable. I don't think Sudbury actually realizes how bad it actually is, and the amount of people that are actually living on the streets, with nothing at all."

He says a friend recently suggested the idea of building portable shelters, after hearing about similar projects elsewhere. Ransom is a contractor, and he says with about $400 worth of materials, he and his cousin were able to build their first mini shelter in about three hours. 

Ransom says small shelters like these are not a good solution. What's really needed, he says, are more shelter beds and transitional housing. The Off The Streets Shelter in downtown Sudbury can accommodate 35 people, and is filled to capacity most nights. 

"This is just to keep people that are sleeping in tents right now, or right out on the middle of the street, on a sidewalk somewhere, this is just to keep them from freezing at night. That's all this is, it's not a solution, it's just a Band-Aid," Ransom said.  

Sudbury city councillors voted this week to keep warming centres open seven days a week this winter and to start drawing up plans to build transitional housing.

First-hand experience 

Ransom enlisted the help of his cousin, Todd Provincial, to build the shelter. Provincial knows first hand what it's like to experience homelessness. After being released from jail in March, he didn't have a place to live until Ransom took him in last month. 

"I actually got fed up, and I was willing to go back to jail this winter. I wasn't spending this winter on the streets," Provincial said.

Provincial says he feels lucky to have avoided going back into custody, but it's upsetting that for some, sleeping in a small foam structure may be the best option.

"It kind of makes me sick that we have to do this," Provincial said. 

"It makes me happy if we can keep someone out of the cold for the night, for sure. But nowhere near where it should be." 

Bylaws prohibit camping

Ransom is ready to give away his first shelter, to someone he's known for a number of years, and is currently living in a tent. He says he plans to build more, and distribute them to others. 

The City of Greater Sudbury's zoning bylaw prohibits camping on property that is not zoned for that purpose. Last month, about half a dozen people who had been living in Memorial Park downtown were evicted by Sudbury bylaw officers. 

Ransom knows people using his shelters on public property may well be told to leave. He purposefully built the structures to be light, and easy to disassemble. 

He hopes however, that the city might offer some land where people could use the shelters. 

"We're in an emergency situation," he said. 

"If they can give us a spot to set these shelters up, it'll avoid having a tent and a big mess in the bush, or having these shelters abandoned in the bush."

In the meantime, he's ready to get to work building the next shelter — a project he says simply can't wait.