Homeless in Vancouver: A little box, made of ticky tacky

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      Above is a photo of what could be a factory module dropped from low Earth orbit onto a lot off the south side of King Edward Avenue on Yukon Street.

      It doesn’t look like it but this is actually a brand-new home. At first, I thought it was a so-called “lane home”, a small detached rental unit that Vancouver homeowners have been allowed to put on their properties since 2009. But it’s on its own little lot, and not a lot of lot at that.

      It may be the future of Vancouver housing but it looks more like an awkward, unnaturally exposed, single condo unit. All around it sit old and new homes that look like… homes, with fences and yards, front and back.

      Below is a photo of one such “home” on the north side of King Edward Avenue at Yukon Street. Notice that it has a generous front yard, trees, a hedge, and a welcoming look. I’m no good at dating buildings so I guessing it dates from the 1930s or 1940s.

      Not fair? No new home will ever have that big a front yard.

      When I was a public-school student in Saskatchewan in the early 1970s, schools had student assemblies in the gymnasium. We sang songs.

      One of the standards was called “Little Boxes”. We sang it cheerfully.

      It wasn’t until I was much older that I learned it was a protest song about cookie-cutter homes in the suburbs.

      It was a hit for singer Pete Seeger in the early 1960s. Now it’s best known as the theme to the TV show Weeds. I imagine a neighbourhood full of this modern little shoebox would make suburbia look very good.

      Stanley Q. Woodvine is a homeless resident of Vancouver who has worked in the past as an illustrator, graphic designer, and writer.

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