Hamilton’s Director of Housing Services confirms the City received its $1.4-million (plus taxes, duties, and all shipping costs) purchase of tiny shelter units on Monday.
“The City has received a delivery of cabins today to be installed within the Barton/Tiffany temporary outdoor shelter site,” Michelle Baird wrote in response to an emailed question.
Baird states that a communication will be forthcoming to City Council to provide an update on the low-barrier outdoor shelter project. The communication will be posted on the City’s website.
Contractors unloading units that will be converted into Tiny Shelters
During the day, contractors working for Rankin Construction were unloading the containers used to ship the cabins. The containers contained the long panels for the cabins.
Due to the distance between the public roadway and where the shipping containers were, TPR could not get a clear photo of the model number or other code numbers.
However, the words “Made in China” and the label stating they are “Modular Storage Units” were in large enough font to be read.
Background (re-published from earlier today)
As previously reported on TPR, the City hired Microshelters Inc. in a non-competitive process.
In the process, the City disqualified experienced companies with successful records of delivering tiny shelter communities at lower cost and more quickly. Many disqualified companies provide all services: manufacturing, shipping, and installation.
Microshelters Inc. only provided ordering support. The City is paying them $1.4 million for the purchase of the shelters, with a 50 percent deposit paid upfront.
The City of Hamilton is separately responsible for the cost of shipping, duties, and taxes.
Microshelters website copied the materials of Foldom corporation – a successful US provider of tiny shelters. The misappropriated website materials have been removed after Foldom began potential legal action.
The City originally expected to receive the shelters in early December, with the tiny shelters’ opening date announced as December 20.
This deadline was missed.
The City then announced that the shelters would arrive in Canada on December 26 and at the Barton/Tiffany site no later than January 6.
The shelters arrived in the United States on December 26. They did not make it to Hamilton for the second deadline.
Last week, the State of Wyoming administratively dissolved Global Axxis LLC after the company failed to file its annual reports and pay the state’s $60.00 (USD) annual license tax.
Global Axxis LLC was one of the companies shipping the tiny shelters.
Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: January 13, 2025
Last updated: January 13, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version
Thank you Joey.
We, the tax payers, need to know how much these units cost directly from the manufacturer.
It appears they’re currently around $1400, from multiple Chinese retailers. We paid $35k plus, plus, plus for each of these units.
We need a public inquiry.
Yes we need an inquiry but you will never get one out of Hamilton
Indeed, Ted.
The only way we may get to the bottom of this is if the next council investigates what happened. The city manager who signed orr
The public deserves to know. They need to preserve their records..