Margaret's House opens

winchesterbanner
Our project for Margaret’s Housing and Community Support Services has recently been completed. Since its inception in 1984, Margaret’s has been the leading organization in Toronto providing women suffering from mental illness with safe, dignified, and affordable housing options and other support services open to all. Margaret’s housing initiatives help women to find stable and supportive housing, keeping them off the street and better able to manage their mental health challenges.

Inspirations Studio

Inspirationsstudiomural
As part of the support for residents and members of the community, on October 23rd, Inspirations Studio has opened as part of our 389 Church Street supportive housing redevelopment managed by YWCA Toronto. The studio is a ceramic-based program for women who have been impacted by poverty, trauma, homelessness, mental and physical health and/or addiction issues. The Studio's core mission is to facilitate improvements in members' lives through the making and selling of pottery. Through creative, therapeutic and skill building work, women gain a sense of self-confidence, dignity and stability, a connection with community, earn supplemental income and engage in a new way with the world as makers. The Studio also offers workshops and collaborative opportunities for other agencies. (Photo courtesy of Inspirations Studio). UPDATE: The CBC has published an article on Inspirations Studio.

389 Church Street

389Church-Entry-HDRSM
Our 389 Church Street project has recently been completed and is now being occupied. This 120 unit affordable and supportive apartment building provides a safe, inclusive, supportive community for Indigenous and non-Indigenous women, gender diverse people, and youth and senior women who have experienced or who are at risk of experiencing homelessness.

Redeveloped by Toronto Community Housing, it is leased to and managed by YWCA Toronto.

Margaret's House in the news

13&15winchester_01On July 15, 2020, The Globe and Mail featured our new supportive housing project, currently under construction, for Margaret’s Housing and Community Support Services, in an article by Vanessa Quon, entitled Mouldering Cabbagetown heritage homes find a higher purpose.

Raising the Roof Cedar Mains opening

CedarMainsRibbonCuttingNews
On March 6th, Raising the Roof held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the second affordable housing project that we have completed with them under their new Reside program which aims to prevent homelessness by creating new housing options for people at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness. Working with BuildingUp, Reside creates training and employment opportunities for individuals facing barriers to employment in the trades while renovating each home. BuildingUp worked with Endeavour school to train BuildingUp participants in environmentally sound renovation practices to create ecologically sustainable renovations.

The Cedar Mains project took the decrepit 1857-1858 Shiloh Wesleyan Methodist church building on the site, vacant for 13 years, and repurposes it for new housing for use by their new tenant, Caledon Area Families for Inclusion (CAFFI), which seeks to serve the affordable housing needs for adults with developmental disabilities.

Margaret's House

margaretsannouncement
On October 24th the Minister of Housing for Ontario used our current Margaret’s House site for their announcement of funding for the project. The tender for the project recently closed on budget, and construction will be commencing shortly on this new 35 unit supportive housing project that includes the restoration of four heritage homes.