Shepherds of Good Hope plans eight-storey tower
The Shepherds of Good Hope plans to build an eight-storey complex near its current shelter for the homeless in the By Ward Market that would include supportive housing for up to 48 people, a soup kitchen and a drop-in centre.
The organization says it wants to be part of the solution to Ottawa's housing crisis that has fuelled a rise in homelessness.
People would be moved out of the emergency shelters and into their own tiny apartments in the complex, which would include a communal dining hall and staff available to help with mental health, addiction and medical problems, said Caroline Cox, senior manager of communications for the Shepherds.
Some residents in the neighbourhood are opposed, saying services for the homeless and vulnerable should not be concentrated in one area of the city.
“I was dumbfounded,” said homeowner Brian Nolan, who lives a block away from the development proposed for 216 Murray St., which currently contains a one-storey building that houses offices for the Shepherds of Good Hope.
“I can't understand. For so many years we have been talking about reducing the concentration in this area. I always thought common sense would prevail.”
Nolan said that in the 15 years he's lived in the area it has become increasingly unsafe, with home and car thefts, drug dealing, loitering, aggressive and erratic behaviour, urinating, defecating and vomiting on sidewalks and yards, and sexual acts conducted in public on his dead-end street, he said. Before he lets his son play basketball in the yard, he checks the ground for needles and his home security camera to see who is nearby, said Nolan.
“The combination of over-concentration of shelters and drug injection sites has been a lethal combination for our community,” he wrote in a letter to a variety of city officials, including the councillor for the ward, Mathieu Fleury, who co-sponsored a community meeting on the issue Tuesday.
The development was funded by a $10.3-million “Rapid Housing Initiative” grant from the federal government, said Cox.
The proposal requires a minor variance in zoning to allow eight storeys, she said.
The ground floor of the development would be a drop-in centre that includes life skills and recreational programming. It would give vulnerable people a place to go during the day rather than congregating on sidewalks, she said.
The second floor would be a soup kitchen, replacing the one operated by the Shepherds across the street in the old building at 233 Murray St., which would be used for offices.
The top six floors of the new development would contain 350-square-foot apartments, each with a kitchenette. Priority would be given to Indigenous tenants and women.
There would be 24-hour security, said Cox.
Home takeovers have been a problem at other supportive housing units, she said. “There are usually drugs involved, there is intimidation, that sort of thing. So we definitely want to guard against that happening.”
The organization operates three other supportive housing projects with a total of 183 units — in Lowertown, Kanata and Nepean — and a 42-unit project is nearing completion on Montreal Road.