Most Edmontonians either rent or own their home. Whether they live in an apartment, townhouse or single detached home, a building permit was filed with the City and the structure was built to the legislated standards of the time.

However, this was not always the case. For over 100 years people in Edmonton have bucked the ordinary, and have lived in tents, shacks, old mines, and homes they built themselves on private or public land. There have been many such communities in Edmonton over the years. These are some of their stories.