A Better Tent City organization to dissolve, site management will transition

A Better Tent City on April 15, 2025. (Heather Senoran/CTV News)

The volunteer-led organization behind a tiny home community in Waterloo Region has announced plans to dissolve.

A Better Tent City is a community of small homes assembled along Ardelt Avenue in Kitchener. In April 2020, community members began looking for a different approach to trying to solve homelessness. Eventually, showers and laundry facilities were built and residents moved from tents into cabins.

“After six years of working together to provide shelter and community for people who were experiencing homelessness, A Better Tent City has realized that we can no longer continue as a volunteer-led organization,” an email from the Chair of A Better Tent City’s board, Jeff Willmer, said.

Willmer said changes over the past year, including the loss of several volunteers who had been part of the operational leadership team, has made the initiative unsustainable in its current form.

“As a result, we have decided to dissolve the corporation over the next few months,” Willmer wrote.

The site will continue to operate as The Working Centre has agreed to step up and take the helm starting on July 20.

“Transition work will be undertaken collaboratively by TWC, the Region of Waterloo and other partners over the coming weeks. This will include a full assessment of site needs and conditions. Once the assessment is completed, a report including recommendations will be provided to Regional Council for its consideration before the end of June,” Willmer.