The City of Hamilton’s efforts to construct a low-barrier “temporary” outdoor shelter at the Barton and Tiffany lands continue to be delayed by bureaucratic mistakes and faulty decision-making.
The made-in-China tiny shelters, which the City is paying more per unit to procure than any Ontario municipality has, the City sourced through a brand-new “Indigenous-owned” middleman company, are still not on the site.
This is despite the City stating on December 24 that it was confident the shelters, which were initially scheduled to arrive during the first half of December, would arrive by January 6.
The City has no timeline for the arrival of the tiny shelter units. However, it remains confident that the Barton/Tiffany site will be operational “beginning in mid-January.”
The City is paying Microshelters Inc., a new company with misleading content on its website, $1.4 million solely for ordering the 40 tiny shelters.
In addition to the $70,000 per unit, the City is paying for taxes, duties, and shipping.
The City provided Microshelters Inc. with a deposit of $700,000 – more than enough for the company to purchase tiny shelters. The remaining $700,000 is scheduled to be paid when the shelters arrive.
A separate contractor has been hired to construct and install the tiny shelter units. The City is not saying if it is paying standby fees during the ongoing delays.
The City is avoiding questions regarding the awarding of this contract. [See TPR’s December 24 post with questions to the City and its non-answers.]
Questions continue to grow regarding the decision to disqualify Canadian firms, including some in Hamilton, with proven experience installing tiny shelter projects across Canada using locally manufactured units—at a lower cost than the City of Hamilton is spending.
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Published: January 10, 2025
Last updated: January 10, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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