First sleeping cabins for Thunder Bay's Temporary Shelter Village set for early July

“They're not just sheds. They're manufactured to Ontario building code. They're all engineered. All the electrical is inspected by the Electrical Safety Authority, and these are engineered buildings, so they're not just sheds. They're a spot where people can start a new life and hopefully get off the streets.”

The first sleeping cabins for Thunder Bay's Temporary Shelter Village are nearly built. ModBox has roughly a third of the 80 cabins finished at its Thunder Bay shop, with the opening units set to be delivered to the Hillyard lands and installed in early July.

The first sleeping cabins for Thunder Bay's Temporary Shelter Village are almost ready. ModBox Modular has finished roughly a third of the 80 cabins at its Thunder Bay shop, and the opening units are scheduled to be trucked to the Hillyard lands site and set in place in early July.

Each cabin is built indoors at the ModBox shop, then delivered complete and placed on its pad at the site at the end of Alloy Drive. Building in a controlled shop keeps the work moving through Northern Ontario weather and lets crews run several cabins through framing, mechanical, and finishing at the same time, which is how the first wave came together this quickly. Shared laundry, washroom, and dining buildings round out the village so the cabins stay quiet, private spaces.

The village is part of Ontario's $10.7 million investment to add 186 supportive housing and shelter spaces in Thunder Bay. ModBox is the design-build contractor for the cabins and common buildings, and Demetrakopoulos Enterprises holds the separate contract to operate the site as a low-barrier alternative to encampments.

With the first cabins headed to the site in early July, the remaining units continue through the ModBox shop over the summer as the rest of the village is assembled on the Hillyard lands.