Urgent relief in transitional housing got a bit of breathing room this week in Midland.
A grand opening for 32 supportive housing units at 860 Yonge St. will take place Thursday.
Shelter Now executive director Sonia Ladouceur told MidlandToday the location would be labelled Weber House after its supporting founder.
“We’re really excited,” she said. “We’re having our grand opening for our Phase 2 building, which is 32 supportive housing units, made possible by (the Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative); they provided us $3.6 million for the affordable housing piece.
“And then the Weber Foundation ... started our capital campaign, giving us $2 million to start us off. We’ve gone pretty over budget, so we were looking at probably another $2 million from the Weber Foundation to finish off the project.”
Additionally, the four north Simcoe municipalities, including Penetanguishene, Tay Township and Tiny Township, had previously donated to the cause.
Ladouceur noted affordable housing for a one-bedroom living space in Midland is roughly $1,080 and the Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative funding would “keep rent at below 80 per cent of market value of what’s considered affordable here.”
Across the street at 850 Yonge St., the Weber Foundation and friend Robert Hartog in 2009 had donated the full construction costs for what would be called the Hartog House. For Weber House, the same designers (Tiny Township companies Quantum Engineering and Innovative Home Design) came back to help complete the new project.
“It’s not just a regular housing facility; it’s not just apply for a rental and you have one,” Ladouceur explained. “We’re looking at: Do people need supports? Do people have the ability to live independently, or is this the most appropriate type of housing?
“The way we see it is it’s a continuum of housing; it’s not independent living. Referrals will be coming from our partnering agencies. As well, they can apply directly with Shelter Now — but again, 32 units. I think that they will fill up quite quickly. After that, we won’t be holding a wait list; we will be announcing vacancies and looking at those who apply when the vacancy is available.”
Several delays hindered the construction process, according to Ladouceur.
“COVID played a pretty big role. We had a lot of supplies that we weren’t able to get,” she said. “We had a lot of inflation from our original budget on supplies as well, and then I think we may have had a bit of shortage just in manpower, really — getting it done.”
Weber House was built to be a supportive housing development of 32 units – including a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and bachelor units — for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness in north Simcoe.
Ladouceur, who has been with Shelter Now since 2009, expressed relief the project had reached its conclusion. While the initial concern was in the bricks and mortar of the building, priority has been shifted to furnishing the units, with a furniture drive being planned in the coming months.
Expressing partnerships with community agencies such as Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, Canadian Mental Health Association, Wendat Community Programs, and CLH Foundation were important, Ladouceur also stressed the thanks needed to her core staff throughout the process.
“I have two people who have come to every construction meeting in the last two years,” said Ladouceur. “One is a former board member (Sharon Lapham) and one is the chair of our board now (Sherry Allan) ... Also, Reinhart Weber himself participated in our monthly construction meetings along with one of his trustees, Don Gordon.”
Weber House will be able to help those in need for a long time, but Ladouceur said she felt more could be done elsewhere with similar goals in mind.
“It’s definitely a model that I would like to see in other communities,” she shared. “There’s a lot of regular rentals and community support agencies, but sometimes it’s really having people in that environment where it’s always supported and it’s not just a weekly visit, and sometimes that’s exactly what people need.”
The grand opening of Weber House is scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m. at 860 Yonge St. Information on the project can be found at the Shelter Now website.
Further information on enumeration in Simcoe County and north Simcoe can be found on the county website.
