Latest news with #Indwell
CBC
5 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
Conversion of former London hospital gets $4.8M boost from donor fund
Social Sharing More than $22 million of the $25 million donated anonymously by a family two years ago to help London respond to a housing and homelessness crisis has now been allocated. On Monday, the housing charity Indwell announced that $4.8 million from the Fund For Change would go toward the conversion of 346 South St. into 96 affordable supportive housing units. Built in 1921, the heritage building once served as Western University's medical school. The building is also part of the Vision SoHo Alliance, a partnership of six non-profit developers coming together to build affordable housing units on the former Victoria Hospital grounds. Indwell has also received $2.8 million in private donations for the project, which is currently under construction with a planned opening date of winter 2027. Diane Silva is president of the London Community Foundation, which manages the Fund for Change in consultation with the donor family. At an event held Monday to announce the recent funding, Silva said the building will give residents more than a rental unit. It will also include wraparound supports, everything from help with health care and addiction treatment to meal preparation and other supports. "When you put people in housing that have been unhoused for a long time — people that come with complex physical or mental health needs — if they don't have that wraparound support care, they're not going to be successful," she said. Silva pointed to the House of Hope, a supportive housing building on Dundas Street operated by London Cares, as a successful model for effective housing for high-needs tenants. "When they get the care that they need, they get better," said Silva. Indwell CEO Jeff Neven said the donation to the Fund for Change helped move the project along quickly. He said senior governments can sometimes be reluctant to contribute money for new housing projects unless they're almost shovel-ready. However, because getting housing projects to that stage is expensive, donations are essential to move the project along. "The level of support that we've received here in London is unique because of its scale and its interest in coming to the table first," said Neven. "The donated dollars here helped us to get this project ready to go." Mayor Josh Morgan said the South Street building will be able to provide a proper level of care for high-needs tenants. He said in the past, they were sometimes placed in London Middlesex Community Housing units. Often, those placements didnt' work out, he said. "They would be unsuccessful in their housing journey," he said. "They'd be moved out, and the corporation was stuck with a big repair bill for damage to their unit because we weren't caring for people properly." Morgan said supportive housing already built in London has helped reduce calls to police and paramedics and also cut down on emergency department visits. "They have taken the pressure off of other critical services in our community," said Morgan. Other projects in London that have received money from the Fund For Change include: Atlohsa Family Healing Services and St. Joseph's Health Care London ($1.3 million in capital). Youth Opportunities Unlimited and London Health Sciences Centre ($3 million). Coves Landing (Elmwood Place): 50 units of highly supportive housing ($4 million for capital, $1.7 million in operating funds). Targeted opening 2026. Hilda Stuart Lofts: 42 units (formerly War Memorial Children's Hospital) conversion in SoHo. ($1.5 million for capital). London Cares House of Hope: 49 highly supportive housing units ($846,000 for one year of operating costs). CMHA-Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services: 115 units in two locations. Targeting opening for 2026 and 2027. ($5 million for capital).
CTV News
7 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Latest Indwell housing project transforms lives and preserves heritage
More Londoners with specialized needs will soon have a place to call home. Millions of dollars in government funding, as well as public and private donations were announced Monday for the latest project by Christian housing charity, Indwell. 'Highly supportive housing for some people is the first time in a long time that they've been able to have a place of their own, go behind a door, sleep in a bed, and have people there who care about their well-being,' said London Mayor Josh Morgan, while speaking at the steps of 346 South Street in London's Village SoHo. Morgan was among those on hand as London's Health and Homelessness Fund for Change announced $4.8 million in capital funding Indwell's latest highly supportive housing project. 'It's so fitting that this highly supportive housing project is part of Village SoHo- a larger initiative to ensure everyone has a safe, secure, and affordable place to call home,' said Diane Silva, President and CEO, London Community Foundation (administrator of the Fund for Change). In addition, an anonymous donor has pledged $1.1 million, with a challenge to the community to match donations. To date, Indwell had already received $2.8 million in pledges and gifts. 'The Fund for Change is spurring on and leveraging investment from all levels of government, and it's inspiring more of us to dig in to our pockets and donate to a project that's really going to make a difference,' said Jeff Neven, Indwell CEO. Built in 1921, the former Western University Medical School was decommissioned more than a decade ago. The new residence will include 96 units for singles, couples, and families, said Neven. 'And now we have an historic shell that's solid, and we can build apartments inside of that shell. And it's absolutely stunning. You know the enormously high ceilings would give a beautiful loft feeling and volume to the units and large window spaces, would just create a beautiful living space.' The building has been prepped and dried out. The actual construction gets underway in the fall of this year, with a two-year construction timeline. It's expected to be open and welcoming its first tenants by late 2027.
Winnipeg Free Press
24-05-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Churches are helping provide affordable housing
One thing all federal party leaders agreed on during this election is that Canada faces an affordable housing crisis. And here in Winnipeg, the provincial and local governments are trying to address the challenge of homelessness. It's a big challenge. What can be done? Earlier this year, I had a chance to talk with some Lutheran church leaders in Ontario who are taking the challenge into their own hands by turning their buildings into housing. One of those churches is St. Peter's in Kitchener, Ont. The wake-up call for that congregation came in 2018 when a family of three was discovered living in a below-ground air vent behind the church. 'It galvanized us as a community and as people of faith,' said pastor Mark Ehlebracht of the downtown congregation, which is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). 'It was a defining moment in our journey.' What made the experience even more poignant was realizing the church's altar was directly behind the wall between the sanctuary and the family's home. 'On the one side was us, the clergy were all dressed in our finery and the congregation singing, praying and praising around God's table, and they were living in an air vent behind us,' he said. 'It broke our hearts.' That discovery set the church on a mission to respond to housing needs in that southwestern Ontario city of over 280,000 people where over 2,000 are homeless and living in encampments and there is a long waiting list of people needing affordable housing. 'As people of faith, we couldn't be idle,' Ehlebracht said. 'We decided to do something about it.' What they did was strike up a partnership with Indwell, an Ontario-based Christian organization that builds, manages and provides supportive housing in that province. Together, they came up with a plan to build 41 apartments over what used to be the church's education wing. The total cost is about $14 million, with funding coming from regional, provincial and federal governments. The project should be completed this summer. Helping churches use their buildings to address the housing crisis is the mission of Indwell. Founded in 1974, today it provides housing for 1,300 people in seven Ontario communities through 30 supportive housing projects — many of them converted from former churches. While St. Peter's is providing the space, Indwell's role is to manage the units and provide wrap-around support to the tenants. 'We have a resource in our property and we can do something about this need,' Ehlebracht said, adding 'we want to find new ways for our building to live.' Another church in Ontario that worked with Indwell was Faith Lutheran in Hamilton. The church, also part of the ELCIC, was closed due to low numbers. The remaining members of the congregation joined with three other Lutheran churches in the city to form Trinity Lutheran Church. Rather than sell the property for the highest amount to a developer, in 2024 the congregation sold the 65-year-old 9,000-square-foot building and land to Indwell for about $1.2 million, or about half the market value. The organization plans to build affordable and supportive housing on the site. 'We discerned as a congregation that affordable housing was an important issue for us to address,' said Jordan Smith, a pastor at Trinity. Jennifer Hoover is the congregational redevelopment advisor for the Eastern Synod of the ELCIC. For her, stories like St. Peter's and Faith Lutheran are inspiring. By selling or redeveloping places of worship to provide affordable housing, churches can continue to faithfully serve their communities in a way that is consistent with what churches were built for in the first place, she said. 'Churches have always been a place of gathering,' Hoover said, adding that churches were always community centres for members and others in addition to hosting worship services. 'This is just bringing that vision forward in a new way.' It's also a way to tell a new story about church closings. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. 'We need to reframe that narrative, away from one of having failed,' she said, explaining that it is a chance for congregations 'to think about what new thing is possible, about new ways they can use the building in ways that are consistent with their mission, vision and values.' By responding to the need for housing in Canada in this way, churches can also change the way society views Christianity, Hoover said. 'It tells the wider society that we still have a role to play,' she said, noting many Canadians today think religion is irrelevant. 'Churches still have vital roles to play in their communities. The church is relevant.' Here in Winnipeg, St. Matthews Anglican Church turned its large building into affordable housing through WestEnd Commons. And at least one United Church in the city is considering doing something similar. Are others thinking about it, too? Tackling this crisis will require all of our best efforts — and maybe our buildings, too. faith@ The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER John LonghurstFaith reporter John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
