House of Friendship ‘has saved lives,’ says resident of shelter
Facility helped 26 people find housing in first year
From the outside, it looks like any hotel in any city in Canada but, inside, people are changing their lives.
The House of Friendship’s ShelterCare location at 190 Weber St. N. in Waterloo just surpassed its first year of operations and in that time has helped 26 people move on to supportive and affordable housing.
The building was renovated from a former hotel to suit the needs of the 100 men staying there, men who are experiencing homelessness, many with complex trauma, mental health and substance use needs.
W. Ramirez has been at the shelter for about a year.
At age 50, he’s been in housing before and also has lived outside.
“The House of Friendship has saved lives in many ways, OK,” he said. “And this is a great place because you got your food, you got your bed, you got your shower and you got people that you can talk with. Everybody supports each other.”
The local artist spoke kindly of staff and volunteers at the shelter and said there is a feeling of community — that people encourage each other and work together.
He said that’s something often missed by the housed population, that sometimes the person experiencing homelessness who is asking for change at a storefront or an intersection, may just be looking for a smile.
“Many homeless people don’t want the money, they just want people to say hello to them,” he said.
It’s that kind of human dignity the House of Friendship has built its ShelterCare model around.
“We take a lot of direction from the guys here as to what they are looking for,” said Jennifer Scott, housing services director.
The ShelterCare concept is about wrapping around individuals with any and all supports they might need. At 190 Weber, on-site supports and programming are significant and wide-ranging. They include primary health care, mentalhealth supports, 24-7 substance use supports and harm reduction, as well as recreation therapy, physiotherapy, hearing and vision clinics. They also offer support to apply for Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program. There is even recreational programming such as yoga and game nights.
Scott said with so many unsheltered people experiencing mentalhealth and substance use issues, people need to understand there is much more to the housing crisis than a lack of supply.
“It’s not just a housing issue — this is a health-care issue,” she said.
Scott said 26 per cent of residents are in regular counselling for substance use issues, whereas at the House’s previous shelter that statistic would have been more like one per cent.
“The health care that people need is here for them and is provided by practitioners that they know and trust,” she said.
On the ground floor of the renovated two-storey building is a spacious dining hall where three meals each day are prepared in-house.
Double-occupancy units and 13
accessible single units are also on the main floor, as well as a health care space, meeting rooms, reception and offices.
On the second floor are the remaining double-occupancy units, each with a private bathroom.
When The Record toured the site Friday, residents came and went from their rooms, outside and the dining room. People seemed comfortable in the space and with each other.
Being able to build for the needs of residents was something new for House of Friendship. In the past, as is often the case when it comes to sheltering unhoused people in the community, a space would become available and operations would have to fit to that space.
Part of the community
The ShelterCare program has built good relationships with the community, with 10 complaints in the first six months of operation and none since.
Natalie Schill’s husband and brother-in-law own J and J Cards and Collectibles, a couple doors down on Weber Street. When they first heard House of Friendship had bought the hotel and was planning to open the program, they weren’t sure what to expect.
“One of the initial reactions is, ‘Oh no, what does this mean,’ ” she said. “Your reaction is, ‘Not in my neighbourhood.’ ”
But Schill wanted to take a different approach and spent time talking with staff and learning about how the shelter would operate and why it was important.
Schill has since joined the House of Friendship team as development director.
Scott said House of Friendship made sure all of the neighbours knew how to connect with questions or concerns and that they work to resolve issues and ensure neighbours are heard. Staff also worked to explain some of the root causes of homelessness.
“How do we explain a little bit more about some of the traumas these folks have been through, allow the community to see that these are our neighbours, everyone has a story and these folks deserve this level of care,” she said.
Schill shared a story of how the shelter has become integrated.
A woman contacted staff to say her daughter had lost her cellphone somewhere in the area. People living at the shelter searched for the phone, found it and it was returned. The mother donated to House of Friendship as a result.
Peter Lavigne owns nearby A to Z Rentals and had concerns when he learned the shelter would be operating there. “When the announcement was made that we were going to have House of Friendship as neighbours, did we welcome it with open arms? No,” he said.
Like Schill, he has come to embrace the shelter and said there are a lot of myths about people experiencing homelessness, including that unsheltered residents are somehow out to harm other people.
“We can help these folks in small little ways by simply acknowledging them,” he said. “Their invisibility to the rest of society is harmful to them.”
The shelter opened in February 2023 and was at full occupancy a couple of months later. Residents came from House of Friendship’s former shelter on Charles Street in Kitchener, encampments and through referrals from places such as emergency departments.
Learning life skills
While the results have been positive so far, it hasn’t been without its learning experiences and challenges.
Pets aren’t permitted at ShelterCare and when they arrive some people are upset that there is limited space for their belongings. And with most bedrooms shared, there are conflicts between residents.
But a complaint resolution system has been developed that not only solves those disputes but helps prepare people for the next stage of their housing journey because they’re learning conflict resolution.
Helping people develop these skills can help them feel more selfconfident and most take pride in the shelter, cleaning up garbage around the site or sweeping the parking lot, Scott said. “They care about the dignity of this place and the condition is as good as it looked when we moved in,” Scott said.
The province announced in January 2022 that it would provide $8.5 million for House of Friendship to purchase and transform the former Comfort Inn into the ShelterCare program.
In coming months administration staff who are still based at the former Charles Street men’s shelter will be moving out to make way for 50 supportive housing units.
Scott said what they’ve learned from 190 Weber St. will be applied to those units, which are in addition to 50 supportive housing units operated by House of Friendship next to the former Charles Street shelter.
For Ramirez, he hopes everyone in the region can come together and start supporting each other, rather than being divisive.
“Sometimes people fall on both knees … we are together in this world,” he said. “We suffer under the same sun.”