Tiny Footprint Homes creating housing, jobs in rural Ontario town

We spoke with Josh, co-founder of Tiny Footprint Homes about housing in his area, the tiny homes he is building, and his tiny home community plans.

Tiny Footprint Homes, is a tiny home building company born out of the Ontario housing crisis. The pandemic brought this crisis to the surface, but company co-founders, Paul Arts and Josh Batkin, saw the Huron County, Ontario housing shortage develop for years, with people in their region having fewer and fewer options.

“I’ve lived here all my life, with the exception of when I had to go to the city for school. Other than that, this has been home and I’ve seen the issues right at my front door. Sometimes it’s people I know, sometimes it’s just complete strangers, but the result is the same, right? There’s no housing here for them.”

“Sometimes it’s people I know, sometimes it’s just complete strangers, but the result is the same, right? There’s no housing here for them.”

Josh has seen many of his friends leave for a bigger city. He preferred to return and raise his family where he grew up. Now, he is investing himself into building a company in Clinton, Ontario, at once creating housing and jobs in the area.

“This is where I grew up and I turned out all right. I really like this area and I wanted my kids to experience the same thing.”

Photo by Dylan McLeod on Unsplash

Tiny Footprint Homes has plans to begin a tiny home community in the county to relieve the housing crisis and provide affordable, sustainable housing options.

“After you experience what’s going on here and you really see it, it becomes a no brainer. If you have the ability and the skills, the knowledge to build housing, you start building.”

Photo: Seller – Facebook Marketplace

Tiny Footprint Homes has been warmly received by the municipality, who inspect their homes, and are in talks about the details of a tiny home community. The company is also something of a sweetheart of the local Manufacturing Association for expanding the manufactured home industry in the area.

Photo: Tiny Footprint Homes

“The support means a lot to us as a company. What matters most to us is having local support like that. The mayors around here, the local MPs, everybody’s in our corner. They understand the need for housing right now and this is a very viable solutions. They tell us, just keep plugging away.”

Tiny Footprint Homes does keep plugging away, creating housing one tiny home at a time. They are building whatever is needed: tiny homes on wheels and container homes at the shop, as well as secondary dwelling units on site.

“Right now, we’re building two orders. Roughly, we build a unit every other month. Our first priority is to invest back into our community. If we have opportunity to create housing and put money back into where both Paul and I grew up, it makes sense for us.”

Photo: Tiny Footprint Homes

Photo: Tiny Footprint Homes

Photo: Tiny Footprint Homes

Josh and Paul are driven by a meaningful goal and by their hunger to succeed. We look forward to following this company as they evolve and grow their impact in their community and beyond.

“It’s a lot of work, but it helps us keep our chin up to have as much support as we do. We stay hungry, stay motivated by what needs to get done here.”