It won’t be long now before a portion of the city’s unhoused residents have a place to call home, thanks to a north end permanent supportive housing project.
With one major hurdle remaining – committed operating funds from the province – organizers of the project at 10 Shelldale Cres. believe the facility is close to being ready.
“We’re almost there. We’ve been getting incredible, positive support from the province and incredible local support from our elected officials,” said Melissa Kwiatkowski, CEO of the Guelph Community Health Centre, which is set to provide a variety of wraparound services for residents alongside Stonehenge Therapeutic Community.
“We’ve got a real collective approach happening here where everyone in our community is really driving toward meeting the need in our community.”
The building is owned by Kindle Communities, which has received funding from various levels of government for construction, in addition to a public fundraising campaign and donation of the land from Skyline Group of Companies.
“The capital is a big piece of the equation. The other part is rent supplements. Both of those things have been secured,” explained Kwiatkowski. “The operating funding is the last piece of the puzzle and we’re almost there.”
Construction of the five-storey building is expected to be done by the end of the year.
It includes 32 bachelor units, including eight accessible units, on the top four levels, with common amenity space and an office area on the ground floor.
“It’s amazing to be part of this project,” said Daria Allan-Ebron, chief executive officer of Kindle Communities. “Having 32 people be able to live here and have their whole health needs met is an amazing thing for our community.”
In September of last year, the provincial government announced a $3-million commitment toward the $7-million capital project, with another $2.5 million construction funding commitment from the federal government.
City taxpayers pitched in a further $795,000 through two donations approved by city council.
In addition, the construction effort has benefited from community contributions through the Home for Good campaign spearheaded by the United Way of Guelph Wellington Dufferin and the Guelph Community Foundation.
The campaign is aimed at raising $5 million from the community for three projects. In addition to the Shelldale Crescent effort, the campaign funnels donations to the permanent supportive housing project known as Grace Gardens (32 units) and youth-oriented housing supports through Wyndham House (eight units).
