Sleeping cabins are stepping stones. That’s what Modular Energy Solutions is saying about the cabins it manufactures, and which give people experiencing homelessness dignity and respect as they work to get back on their feet. The Niagara Falls company works with sanctioned encampment operators outside of the Niagara region.
Municipalities such as Hamilton have looked at sanctioned encampments as a way to centralize unhoused people on publicly-owned properties while better providing them housing, mental health and addictions supports. Sleeping cabins are small single-room residences that provide a personal safe space. Having experienced success in other communities, centralized cabin system could provide better Modular Energy Solutions units are each a standard eight by 13 feet, are customizable and typically assembled using six pieces.
“The walls are one piece, so no thermal bridging and no wood in these units, no nails,” said president John Gamble. “It’s all just our fibreglass material all glued together.” The units are excellent at holding and retaining heat in the winter and staying cool in the summer, Gamble said, adding they require very minimal upkeep and are difficult to damage.
“Our material has a one-hour fire rating built into the material, so it self-extinguishes.” People living in sleeping cabin communities have the added security provided by a locking door. “If they’re in encampments, they can never leave the encampments because people will s.