'A place to call home': New supportive housing project in Guelph nearly finished

A new supportive housing project in Guelph that will offer some of the city's unhoused population with housing and 24/7 supports on site is expected to open by the end of the year.

Construction at 10 Shelldale Cres. is expected to wrap up at the end of December. Once it's done, the building will include 32 bachelor-style units and include some accessible units. The main floor will have a communal space, a kitchen and clinics. 

"These are people we have been working with for a long time and have seen the impacts that experiencing homelessness has on their health outcomes," said Melissa Kwiatkowski, CEO of Guelph Community Health Centre (GCHC).

"People are visiting the emergency department more than they need to be because they're in crisis. This is going to provide the supports needed to help give them the dignity of their own place to live and the supports to maintain that."

Kwiatkowski said supports on site "will look at the whole person," offering everything from physical to mental health and substance use supports, to food and recreation programs.

She added there will be opportunities for community building through the Shelldale farm park and community gardens.

Kwiatkowski said 10 Shelldale Cres. is the third supportive housing building in Guelph that will offer 24/7 supports on site, but what makes this building unique is the partnership between GCHC and Stonehenge Therapeutic Community Kindle Communities. 

Kindle Communities owns the building and will be in charge of maintaining it. GCHC and Stonehenge Therapeutic Community will operate the programing on site.

"We wanted to partner with them because this is an amazing model to provide the whole health and other range of services for the tenants who will live in this building," said Daria Allan-Ebron, CEO of Kindle Communities.

"We know that we have a community that has been in crisis and this building will provide a space for people to call home."