Past News > FSA involved in new community for the homeless
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Post date: May 15, 2005
Pioneering new community for the homeless busts the shelter and service model
Article reproduced from FSA Magazine Catalyst:Ideas for Change, Spring/Summer 2005 issue
The Goal is to help tenants build a supportive community that meets their individual and collective needs.
Toronto’s “Av and Dav” district is usually known as the place to find some of the city’s denizens of home design and décor. Tucked away on Pears Avenue just north and west of the intersection of Avenue and Davenport Roads, there’s another kind of home improvement revolution taking place. This one, however, has nothing to do with decorating.
On July 23, 2004, Toronto City Council approved a recommendation to provide $3.5 million in funding to St. Clare’s Multifaith Housing Society to assist with the purchase of the former Avenue Park Hotel at 138 Pears Avenue for development into a unique mixed-income supportive housing project. By September 30, St. Clare’s had purchased the property and by November, the first wave of tenants were moving in.
That was the first indicator of success for this unique new housing project conceived by St. Clare’s, a charitable organization that uses private sector strategies to achieve the social goal of addressing homelessness.
Today, the building is seen as an exciting new step in housing alternatives and an example of innovative solutions being applied to Toronto’s affordable housing crisis.
Eighty-four of the building’s 96 units are designated as rent-to-income units for people who are marginalized for a variety of reasons, including mental health or disability issues, homelessness, and those who simply cannot afford traditional housing prices. The project also receives funding from the federal government’s Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI), which designates money toward housing for people particularly at risk of homelessness.
What sets the Pears Avenue project apart from traditional buildings is that several agencies—including Family Service Association of Toronto—are providing support services to the tenants. FSA Toronto is also supplying a Tenant Support Coordinator, Kim Hinton, who is responsible for organizing tenant services, setting up programming for the common areas and liaising between tenants, the partnering agencies and property management. The goal is to help tenants build a supportive community that meets their individual and collective needs.
While the Pears Avenue project is a unique initiative for Toronto, it takes its inspiration from a similar project by non-profit developer Common Ground Community in New York City’s Times Square. The Toronto project operates in a neighbourhood that is not stigmatized by a ‘ghetto’ label. The location is a first step in facilitating a fresh start for residents to live with dignity. Notwithstanding some initial “not in my backyard” concerns from neighbourhood residents, the project launched with little fanfare and has fit seamlessly into its surroundings.
An existing restaurant space in the building is being transformed into Full Circle Café, a social enterprise that will offer residents and other visitors nutritious and affordable meals, as well as a place for tenants to acquire job training and experience.
Most important, this project will serve as an indicator of effective new housing models, and will serve as an example for future innovative programs.
To learn more about 138 Pears, visit the St. Clare’s website at www.stclares.ca.
