A tiny home being situated at STEP Place/ Kelowna10 app

By Vernon Matters Staff

are these homes working?

City of Kelowna responds to media suggestions on ‘Tiny Homes’

Dec 16, 2025 | 9:00 PM

The City of Kelowna is raising concerns about a recent CBC segment that suggested the mayor had misrepresented the success of the so-called Tiny Homes transitional units in town.

Mayor Tom Dyas had spoken of the 100 people in the small units who had gone on to find permanent housing, but the media outlet had suggested he had not mentioned over 170 people from a total of 300 who had not.

The city says the mayor was not aware of those other stats at the time he was interviewed.

It raised concerns that the media focus on those who have not found permanent housing could influence other communities who are considering similar transitional housing units.

In a media release the City said the CBC host suggested that Kelowna’s mayor misrepresented the success of the transitional housing sites STEP Place and Trailside in comments to KelownaNow and in a statement to CBC.

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“In fact, the mayor’s comments were accurate based on data provided by BC Housing and accurately reflected the number of successful transitions from these tiny home sites to permanent housing,” the City stated, in part.

“Rather than trying to calculate the success of the sites based on percentages, helping 125 people move from homelessness to permanent housing in less than two years is a clear statement of success,” the City said.