Safe tiny home so a disabled activist-writer-human can heal

I have edited this fundraiser, as the very solid plan with which it began has changed due to learning more about my own health needs as well as about legal and logistical things.

The Short Version

My name is Tanya – shortened to Ann – Bucknor, and my pen name (since before social media existed) is Ann Cognito. I am a retired autistic woman with disabilities and multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) – the same woman who walked to Ottawa in 2019 with my support dog Mr Myrtle Sir, to raise awareness about the climate crisis and global ecosystem collapse, and then cofounded the Ottawa Climate Emergency Camp. I did this in spite of my disabilities, because taking care of the planet is the rent I pay for living on her. I also did it because the chemicals affecting me are the same ones killing the planet – that’s why people with MCS are called canaries, in reference to the old method of using canaries as indicators of coal mine air toxicity.

I am trying to finance a tiny home on wheels which will meet the Ontario Building Code requirements as well as my own health requirements, so that I can heal, and finally have the stability to get a doctor and proper health care so I can be a person again.

Because my income is largely from Canada Pension and provincial disability support, and I have no collateral, I do not qualify for enough of a loan from even a third party lender, despite having a near-excellent credit rating.

I have, however, found a builder familiar with MCS and able to accommodate my needs, and I have found an intentional community where I can live in a healthy rural offgrid environment, yet still be near enough to resources I need even though I cannot drive due to my disabilities. This solution would give me back my life.

My budget and housing needs are followed by a little more of my story, and some explanation about my needs.

I am as grateful for epiphanies, prayers, and connections as for financial, material, or practical help.

Thank you,

Ann

Budget

Self sufficient off grid MCS-safe tiny home on wheels

80-100,000

Land

10,000

Tiny Home Requirements

• On wheels, otherwise it requires a foundation or pad, and is much more difficult and expensive to move should that be necessary in future

• Insulated and 4 season appropriate

• Kitchenette with small scale electric cooking and refrigeration, as well as cold storage cabinet/closet

• Solar power system suitable for electric cooking and other kitchen needs, as well as regular laptop and phone charging (writing, shopping, information, personal, etc), heater and/or fan, some light, plus charging mobility scooter (later, electric trike) batteries

• 3 spare batteries and chargers for scooter in order to access resources

• Composting or incinerating toilet

• Nonelectric water filtration system

• Pump for water system must be manually operable as well as electric

• Solar heated water as well as on demand (electric) when needed

• Layout enables space free from electricity and electronics, as well as thorough ventilation

• Unshared and self-contained

• No gas heat or appliances

• No laminate flooring, carpet, fibreglass, MDF board, or similar high VOC materials

• Not recent or forseeable renovations, paint, fumigation, or other work involving chemicals

• ...but no mold/rot/rodents/etc, either

• No adjacent gas stations, high traffic roads, or similar triggers

• As rural as possible while maintaining accessibility to practical and medical resources

The Longer Story

I am 55, retired from academics and a career in post secondary specialized support and disability services due to my own disabilities; I have severe chronic pain due to fibromyalgia as well as injuries (some dating back to very early childhood). I have CPTSD, autism and related issues, agoraphobia, and an increasing boatload of chemical sensitivities and intolerances. Fifty five years of this has wreaked havoc on my adrenal system.

Multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) are extremely awkward to live with. It involves reactions – often dire – to common products and materials (plastics, synthetic fabrics, many building materials, personal products, foods, etc) which don’t seem to affect others. Many of these things offgas for years and are never safe.

But I had a life… I’m a parent, an academic, an activist… I’m a writer, and an artist looking for new safe mediums… I love learning… I’m deeply interested in nutrition, gardening, foraging, natural health, preserving… I could start a fire in the rain, build a shelter, and carry my weight on my back in the mountains before I started elementary school… I lived off the grid when my son was born and learned to can on a wood stove… I used to do my own home maintenance, repair, and renovation work, and do my own taxes with paper and pencil (and espresso)… I’ve always read voraciously… I love sewing on heavy old Kenmore machines… the heroes I name in interviews are always friends who knock my socks off… I miss going for epic walks… the ocean feels like part of me even though I’ve rarely been able to live near it….

I sold my house several years ago to pay off the loans from over a decade of university, and moved to Jamaica – where my support dog and constant companion Mr Myrtle Sir adopted me at birth – then Peru. The climate, altitude, and natural lifestyles enabled remarkable healing, but I couldn’t stay forever. I returned to Canada in 2016 after four years of happily healthy (and very frugal!) quasi-offgrid living, and my health quickly became worse than before.

I walked completely out of my nonexistent comfort zone anyways, in 2019 – from Calgary to Ottawa, with Mr Myrtle, because the October 2018 IPCC report scared the daylights out of me. I needed to do something to raise awareness about global ecosystem collapse, and about the possibilities we still have. I cofounded the Ottawa Climate Emergency Camp that winter, below the prime minister’s office window, petitioning for climate action until Covid and the first pandemic lockdowns required us to shut down the Camp. I couldn’t return to Alberta due to border closures, and all my belongings were stolen from storage there, so I stayed and rented from friends until acquiring a small old (but well built) sailboat, which was all I’ve ever wanted – a safe means of living nomadically while writing and cleaning up beaches and trying to make the world a better place.

The next winter my health became so poor that I couldn’t keep down simple food or sometimes even water – I went to a hospital, where for unfathomable reasons, I was assaulted and all the rugs have been coming out from under me ever since. Even my dog was traumatized. That case is currently going through the Human Rights Tribunal process. Meanwhile, I have significantly increased pain and other issues, including CPTSD, and as a result of an utterly overtaxed body, my chemical sensitivities are taking another nosedive. I need a doctor, but every time I move, I go to the bottom of the wait list for the new area.

I need a safe long term home. The boat is gone, of course – I’m not able to do that any more. I found an apartment that was supposed to be home for several years; it lasted less than two years and is now going to become a parking lot. The next place had serious health and legal issues… now I’m in an off-season motel where I can stay at a cut rate until mid-May, at which time it will cost considerably more than my income… this gives me a few months yet – but I’ve already been looking for ten months.

Any place I can afford financially will involve health compromises I can’t afford, and as I get sicker, my needs increase and my criteria become more restrictive. It is unlikely the rental market will change enough to find housing that works, and it’s unrealistic to think that my health or financial circumstances will improve, especially in these circumstances; continuing to bounce from one unhealthy place to another will continue escalating MCS and other issues.

I was planning to get a small camper to live in somewhere, but due to health concerns regarding materials and whatnot, and the legality of what constitutes a home, that’s not possible. I can’t do the boondocking vanlifer stealth camping thing because I don’t drive, and wouldn’t be able to get a license due to my health issues. Long term tent camping is not an option for the same reasons – I can’t bug out as necessary with that kind of life, and I can’t afford to live illegally.

Affordable mobile homes or park models, and used tiny homes, are usually made with high VOC materials, and hold the chemical residues of all scented products which have ever been used in it, as well as previous woodstove smoke, fumes from gas stoves, etc. It may not noticeably bother those without MCS, but it will affect me very much and wouldn’t be any healthier than renting, so it doesn’t make sense to buy one. Many are also not actually legal as full time homes and/or do not meet Ontario building code requirements. I continue to peruse those listings just in case, and have done so casually for several years, but rarely see one that could work for me... I haven’t seen any I could even try to afford yet since I started looking in earnest in March.

I need a home that doesn’t make me sicker. I am trying to finance a tiny home on wheels which will meet the OBC requirements as well as my own health requirements.

I have found a reputable builder familiar with MCS and able to accommodate my needs. I have worked out a design which works for me and meets Code, and a plan B design in case I’ve gotten anything wrong. I have found an intentional community where I can live in a healthy rural offgrid environment, yet still be near enough to resources I need even though I cannot drive due to my disabilities. Those parts all fit together.

But… building for MCS is costly, as cheap materials are paid for in terms of health, and because choosing this as a long term living arrangement requires some design alterations (such as incorporating cold storage for roots and preserved foods). Builder financing involves high payments over a short term, which I cannot manage, and because my income is largely from Canada Pension and provincial disability support, and I have no collateral, I do not qualify for a longer term loan even though I have a near-excellent credit rating. I’d be lucky to get a third of what I need, if anything, and that will be with very high interest rates. I’m still trying, and will borrow if and what I can (and update this fundraiser accordingly), because it is more than worth it to me to get my body and my life back… but I’m not holding my breath.

So I will continue this fundraiser... you’ve helped me get this far, and out of the previous predicament… maybe the innate goodness of human beings and the balance of the universe will somehow help make my tiny home happen, so I can heal enough to be a person again, and continue doing the things I consider to be my rent for living on this planet.

Thank you for caring… and please know I truly am as grateful for epiphanies and prayers as for financial, material, or practical help.

Sincerely, and with tea,

Ann and Mr Myrtle Sir