Small Became Mighty in Kemptville: How One Woman is Solving Housing Challenges for Seniors
After decades of working outside Canada, a Canadian returned home and found her calling: helping seniors facing financial struggles by building affordable and small rental homes in her hometown.
Returning to Canada after 30 years working abroad, Janne Ritskes discovered something in her community that she hadn’t anticipated – many seniors living in small communities were facing financial struggles and at risk of becoming homeless.
Creating Shalom Small Homes Kemptville, Ritskes’ Canadian charity is focused on building affordable and sustainable homes for seniors. They completed their first project of four homes in 2025. Chosen as the North Grenville Citizen of the Year for 2026, Ritskes shares why community is the key to solving problems, especially in Canada’s smaller cities, towns and villages.
Why did you want to build small homes?
I’m blessed I have my own place to live, but there are many seniors in my community who are struggling financially and facing homelessness. The increasing rental prices, especially post-covid, are making it difficult for them to make ends meet.
Statistics Canada found that 16% of Canadian adults aged 55 and older had difficulty making ends meet in 2021. Many small and medium-sized towns in Ontario will be trying to figure how to handle this issue.
“I am always challenged to help our neighbours who are hurting. ”
How did you begin?
When I learned of this issue, I knew it was something we could do something about. I spent 30 years living and working in Cambodia and had founded an NGO there. One of the churches in Kemptville had supported me for many years, so when I returned to Canada in 2023, I wanted to return their support and say, thank you. This was truly a community project – we partnered with North Grenville Mayor, Nancy Peckford, both she and the municipality have been wonderful. With their help, our first project’s land is leased for 40 years! We worked with so many wonderful people within the community including Lockwood Brothers Construction.
What were the challenges with building the first group of homes?
I had built 14,000 homes in Cambodia, but this project was a learning curve for me. Weather is a challenge in Canada. The hook-ups were very expensive. Hydro One informed us we needed to replace the transmission poles and that’s when we discovered we were building on non-serviced land and had to also build the connections to water and sewage. However, while working with Hydro One, I also learned they have a charitable department and the residents of the four small homes qualified for discounted electricity costs. We were facing challenges but we were not facing them alone.
Did you approach the provincial or federal government for funding?
I wanted to keep the project in the community – housing is a municipal issue and once you start working with higher levels of government, there’s a lot more bureaucracy. I wanted to keep the focus within my community.
The initial budget was $50,000 but in the end, the cost was $125,000 per unit for the four homes.
What are the small homes like?
Each small sustainable home was made for independent living. Each home is a single-story, 600 square foot unit and includes a living room, kitchen, a 10x12 bedroom, small walk-in closet, full size washer/dryer, bathroom, outdoor patio and heating/AC unit. We’ve designed the homes for seniors – choosing materials to make it easy to clean and maintain.
Rent is a third of their income and paid to the municipality of North Grenville, which provides water and snow removal. We had 20 applicants and selected four.
In my experience, if you have a safe and affordable home, everything else falls into place.
What’s happened since people have heard about the project?
A story in CBC started spreading the word. I’ve been contacted by several communities in Ontario, across Canada and even two in the United States. Every week seniors contact me to ask about affordable housing. We have a lot more work to do!
What’s next?
We’re fundraising for the next project. I know we can build 12 small homes, but I want to build 16.
We just launched the Million Toonie Challenge and hope to receive one million toonies donated from our community by the end of the year. All donations welcome!
Help make affordable homes possible
Support Shalom Small Homes Kemptville with a donation through CanadaHelps.
Make a donation ↗ Meet the organizationSmall homes. Meaningful impact.
Learn more about Shalom Small Homes Kemptville and its work to create affordable housing for seniors.
Visit their website ↗ Local directoryFind Shalom in North Grenville
View the organization’s listing in the Municipality of North Grenville’s business directory.
View the listing ↗ In the newsTiny homes making a big difference
Read CBC’s coverage of tiny homes for low-income seniors in Kemptville.
Read the CBC story ↗