Moose Jaw looking to regulate shipping container use

The City of Moose Jaw is looking at a proposed new bylaw that prohibits people from living in shipping containers.

Currently, shipping containers are only allowed in commercial and industrial parts of the city and they are prohibited in residential areas.

MichelleSanson, director of planning and development services for the city, said Moose Jaw hasn't had any issues with people living in shipping containers.

"We don't have maybe some of the issues that some of the bigger centres in Canada are facing in terms of housing and finding cheaper housing at this point," she said.

There haven't been a lot of complaints about shipping containers within the city but it makes sense to regulate their use, saidSanson.

They're currently only permitted to sitin an area for 45 days, but the city has noticed them hanging around longer in some cases.

"We want to make sure that it's meeting setback requirements and building code requirements and we can legalize these going forward," said Sanson.

In addition from potentially banning people from living within the containers, if the bylaw is approved, the containers could not be stacked on top of each other. They also couldn't be used by the owner of the property they're sitting on or whoever operates the business.