Shepherds of Good Hope to build supportive housing on Montreal Road
by Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa East News
Jan 05, 2018
Stephen Bartolo, vice-president of operations for the Shepherds of Good Hope, says he hopes to see shovels in the ground on their latest project – a 42-unit supportive housing facility planned for 765 Montreal Rd.
Bartolo said the facility will cost between $9 million and 10 million and was funded through a request for proposals with the city.
The project is aimed at providing housing and supports for the chronically homeless.
It’s one of three projects to receive funding through a request for proposals under the Action Ottawa program.
The facilities chosen are a 148-unit mixed income, affordable-housing complex at 811 Gladstone Ave. to be built by the Ottawa Community Housing Corporation and eight city-wide condominium units under the banner of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
A team of city staff and external members selected the projects, according to an emailed response attributed to Shelley VanBuskirk, director of housing services.
The funding comes from two different streams.
Up to $10 million was available from a pot of money called Investment in Affordable Housing for Ontario – there’s to be $48.3 million doled out between 2014 and 2020. In that same vein, the Social Infrastructure Fund was set up to offer $19.2 million between 2017 and 2019.
Up to a total of $8 million in capital funding was available from a new Government of Ontario program called Home for Good – specifically aimed at supportive-housing initiatives.
The Shepherds already operate supportive housing units in Kanata and on Merivale Road.
Bartolo said the site on Montreal Road, near the Montfort Hospital, is ideal because of the proximity to transit and other social services – not to mention the hospital.
Shepherds hosted two town halls in the fall 0f 2017 to help address some of the community’s potential concerns.
Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Tobi Nussbaum said the commitment to community consultation is what sets the development apart from the planned mega-shelter to be operated by the Salvation Army at 333 Montreal Rd.
“It’s a much smaller facility, and it’s supportive housing, which also sets it apart,” Nussbaum said.
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury is also in support of the Shepherds facility, saying a supportive-housing or housing-first model is the direction the city wants to move in.
“We want to be funding the bricks-and-mortar building and getting out of the operation,” he said, adding the Shepherds of Good Hope has stayed on top of the shift in delivery model when it comes to caring for the city’s most vulnerable.
Fleury said to keep pace with the city’s 10-year homelessness plan, the city needs to review how it funds shelter stays and new affordable housing builds.
Bartolo said Shepherds has already been doing their own homework on clients who are staying at shelters long-term or habitually returning.
“We want to get them out of the shelter,” Bartolo said. “This isn’t transitional.”
Bartolo said there would be at least two staff onsite at the facility at all times, but he wasn’t clear on how many would be present at peak times.
When designing the concept for the building, the key considerations were a good mix of private and public, as well as lounge-type space for the clients.
Shepherds staff will meet with the city to “finalize things in the new year,” Bartolo said.
If everything goes as planned, the first clients will move in by late 2019 or early 2020.
Jennifer McIntosh is the political reporter for Metroland Media¹s Ottawa papers. She can be reached at jennifer.mcintosh@metroland.com. Follow her on Twitter and
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Email: jennifer.mcintosh@metroland.com
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