"It's been surprisingly much more comfortable than I was expecting." Micro-shelters get a test-run in London

A pilot program before the actual pilot program. A London man has spent 140 days living in a Conestoga hut on an Ark Aid Street Mission building on Dundas Street.

Call it the pilot program before the pilot program; A London man has spent 140 days living in a Conestoga hut on the Ark Aid Street Mission property at 696 Dundas Street.

He's offering his insights as Ark Aid leadership finalizes details with the city for their new micro-shelter pilot project.

Gary Turner's Conestoga hut has been modelled after huts built in Ohio, with his own modifications; including different mesh that forms the skeleton of the structure, "This here's the upgraded hardware mesh and you can see how it's much tighter than a cattle fence would be."

It's a design he's continuing to modify, pushing on the mesh he says, "I kind of had to rush my design but generally speaking this would be tightly pushed against the wall and rounded out."

Turner has spent almost half a year in his Conestoga hut, “It's been surprisingly much more comfortable than I was expecting."

The Conestoga hut concept was recently proposed to address the growing numbers of people on the street by members of London council, but the Ark Aid representatives, in consultation with city staff, has shifted to micro-shelter concepts designed by London architectural engineer Andy Spriet.

"We have four individual structures with six units in them,” says Jonny Courey, Ark Aid’s manager of outreach and community-based programs, “Two of the units are a little larger so can accommodate maybe a couple of people. They also have options for compostable toilets and gravity sinks."