$12M retrofit will transform aging McLaren Hotel into 150 'tiny homes' of supportive housing

The McLaren Hotel opened more than 100 years ago, but the once classy old building is getting a new lease on life.

By this summer, $12 million in major renovations will be underway as it is remodelled into 150 "tiny homes" of supportive housing.

The Equal Housing Initiative is the driving force behind the renovation of the hotel at the corner of Main Street and Rupert Avenue.

Its executive director, Rick Lees, says the organization was formed to help those who might not be counted as homeless or living on the streets, but are not living in traditional housing.

"There's an entire invisible population, not just in Winnipeg but across Canada, that live in these single-occupancy hotels," Lees told CBC Radio on Monday.

According to Lees, the organization found there was "very little data or information" about those living in them, including the McLaren. 

From there, the organization partnered with the Mclaren's owners to create better housing and social supports for the people living there.

And while the façade cannot be changed or demolished because of its heritage designation, the bones of the building are solid, Lees says. However, the interior does not meet an appropriate standard of living, with 25 people per floor sharing a bathroom.

"Back in 1911 that was considered five star to even have indoor plumbing," Lees said, but nothing in the building has changed since the McLaren's doors opened more than a century ago.

Unlike those living at the Windsor Hotel who have been told to leave by the end of April, the McLaren retrofitting project is set to take two to three years because the organization does not wish to displace the people who already live there. 

A community effort

A partnership with social support organization Sara Riel Inc. and with post-secondary social work students at the University of Manitoba completing practicum work — part of what Lees calls a "care team" —  have made it possible for the housing initiative to take on the job. 

It a the housing initiative to keep rents realistic once the hotel is officially transformed into the McLaren Supportive Housing Initiative.

"I think currently, today, people pay somewhere around $490, and I think the rent becomes about $528," Lees said. 

"The reason we're able to do that is because we're leveraging these supports from other agencies … providing their resources under their own budgets."

Tara Brousseau Snider, executive director of Sara Riel Inc., a Winnipeg organization that provides community-based supports including mental health and addiction supports and housing initiatives, says the community strategy is vital. 

"It was through the vision of Rick Lees and [director of strategic initiatives] Sebastien De Lazzer that they saw the potential for being able to build a community for people who are largely forgotten," Brosseau Snider said.

Sara Riel provides social support at the McLaren, "from how to enrol on EI, to how to get it employment … to daily living — how to do laundry, how to look after, you know, your banking, your ID." 

If the McLaren proves successful, Brousseau Snider says, it will be because of the community partnership.

"It's a true collaboration," she said. "It's a wonderful community collaboration among a lot of different parties and it's really, really making a difference," she said.

The University of Manitoba's faculty of social work is also part of the community initiative.

University students play a role

As Lees noted, the housing initiative has collaborated with the university so that students can complete their practicum through the housing initiative. 

According to Lees and the university's field education co-ordinator, David Sullivan, a student has been working with the organization since September as part of their field placement.

The residents are also an active part of the hotel's evolution.

When the Equal Housing Initiative interviewed people living at the McLaren, Lees says, they were told that everyone living there wanted a community kitchen on every floor or second floor, a place where they could all eat together instead of separate kitchens in their units. 

Six residents of the McLaren are helping organize social supports for the other residents.