44 units of housing will be created with 24/7 support. The Working Centre has learned about the importance of presence in the spaces people live in. We work to keep the wider community complexity at bay, creating a safe space where people can start fresh each day.

A circle of support surrounds each person, including medical services and support navigating various community systems, along with practical problem-solving.

26% of the rooms are designed to be fully accessible to wheelchair users. Rent will be deeply affordable and geared to income, to ensure that those who need our services the most can access it. This housing will align with the Region of Waterloo’s homelessness strategy, and will be accessed through the prioritized housing waitlist.

In 2006 The Working Centre purchased and completely renovated 97 Victoria Street, converting a tired old factory into a purposely designed hub for those experiencing homelessness, at risk of homelessness, or street involved. Since then, St. John’s Kitchen has become an important daytime space for many people in our community.

Over the last two years we have seen an increase in the numbers of people experiencing homeless, a decrease in the number of public community spaces, a growing complexity of active synthetic drug use, frequent extreme weather conditions, and a lack of public washrooms. With 250 people gathering every day to access supports, the space is intense and active.

The new courtyard/ground floor access for St. John’s Kitchen and the bright and open design will help us reshape this community space. Our vision is to continue this work of St. John’s Kitchen, which also complements the supportive housing, adding activities and events to fill out the days and evenings.

Services include:

• Access to a community of supports include daily meals, activities hosted through our active Victoria campus, Community Dental located on site, and visiting health care services.

• Dynamic Street Outreach problem-solving supports, as well as our SOS Concurrent Supports, that help to navigate systems, health care, mental health and substance use issues.

• Linkages to volunteering and community connections through The Working Centre’s Community Tools projects, including Worth a Second Look, Recycle Cycles, Computer Recycling, Job Café (creating access to earned income through casual labour), Green Door clothing, and more.

• With the Inner City Health Alliance village of supports, we will actively link residents to harm reduction supports, primary care, addiction supports, and an agile response to the emerging issues of those who are homeless/at risk.
  

The Working Centre’s history of supporting people extends into this new vision of supportive housing at our Victoria Campus. We create a culture of acceptance, respect, relationship, peer and professional supports, harm reduction, and this deep relationship-based approach helps to problem-solve and improve access to health care, services, and system navigation, while also providing a very deep housing-first approach that is tolerant of complexity and works in a trauma-informed way. Our approach is to walk alongside of people, listening and learning while providing timely care that honours the whole person – physical, mental, spiritual and emotional.

Our deep experience in supportive housing has taught us how to support people to stay housed, in spite of complex challenges. We add a good dose of pragmatism; we do not exclude people who damage the property, and instead we rapidly deploy our maintenance crew to do repairs, while inviting people to rethink in these moments. We cultivate respect for people and for place.

The project is well underway, but we still need your support!

Total project cost is $22m. Federal and provincial government grants have committed over $12m. The Working Centre is contributing the land.

Community support has been high – we have raised nearly $7m in private contributions to date.

Perimeter Development led the way by starting off our Capital Campaign with a $1m contribution. The Lyle S. Hallman Foundation followed with a commitment of $2m. The tech sector and community partners are joining in the funding effort, including Vidyard and other individual and corporate donors.

To complete this project, we require a further $3m. We invite and appreciate all donations, whether small or large! By funding the full construction capital, it makes operation of the space more affordable. The Working Centre has a demonstrated history of being a frugal, practical and highly responsive organization.

Join us in Making Home for 44 people, and ensuring the dynamic community space at 97 Victoria Street remains inclusive and welcoming for all.