Quick Facts
Biography
Khaleel Seivwright is a Canadian carpenter and homelessness activist known for his construction of homeless shelters.
Early life
Sievwright grew up in suburban Toronto; his parents are Jamaican immigrants. After high school, he took a job as an apprentice carpenter, and learned how to frame houses. In his early 20s, he lived on a British Columbia commune where he built his own tiny home shelter.
Toronto homeless shelters
In September 2020, Sievwright began building homeless shelters in parks and ravines in Toronto. The small shelters cost about $1,000 CAD to build. The shelters included insulation, a Vapor barrier, a carbon monoxide detector and a lock.
In January 2021, Sievwright launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised over $200,000 CAD to construct more of the shelters.
As of April 2021, Sievwright had built over 100 of the shelters, with a crew of 40 volunteers.
In November 2020, the City of Toronto wrote to Sievwright, demanding that he "immediately cease the production, distribution, supply and installation" of the shelters. A petition started by Sievwright in response to the City's letter garnered over 80,000 signatures.
In February 2021, the City filed an injunction to stop the construction of the shelters, which take the form of very small tiny homes. Critics of Seivright's shelters, including the City of Toronto, have said that the homes do not represent a long-term solution to homelessness.