First Step Home opens its doors.
Edyth Gerrard, left, and Chris Blythe check out some the photographs on display during the First Step to Home housewarming party held Thursday at the New Edwin Hotel, a new residence for homeless and street-involved seniors on Queen Street East. (March 4, 2010)
Photo/WILLIAM MEIJER
The recent housewarming party at the new First Step to Home was a celebration 400 community members and supporters didn't want to miss.
The downtown east facility, the first of its kind in North America, will soon be home to 28 street-involved and homeless men aged 55-plus.
Back in the spring of 2008, WoodGreen Community Services purchased the three-storey New Edwin Hotel at 650 Queen St. E.
Eighteen months and $3.8 million later, the once derelict building has undergone a complete rejuvenation.
Woodgreen, a United Way-supported social service agency, which has provided support for east end residents continuously since 1937, is also relocating its mental health, housing and homelessness services to the First Step to Home site.
The new residents, many of whom have been homeless or inadequately housed for some time, will live in the building for up to four years in their own self-contained bachelor apartments. While there, they'll receive assistance to address any health issues, develop stronger social networks, receive life skills training and other supports, and will be provided with volunteer as well as employment opportunities.
Neighbours were invited to check out the new facility on March 4 during a special open house event.
"What we wanted to do was really open up the building to the community. We also decided to explore the history of the building," said Suzanne Duncan, director of philanthropy for the WoodGreen Foundation, pointing to the New Edwin's many ups and downs since it was first built back in 1909.
"We noticed a close connection between the building and the residents moving in."
To further illustrate this, WoodGreen Community Services with the assistance of Expect Theatre and a handful of contributing artists put together an elaborate series of audio-visual art installations throughout the building called If These Walls Could Talk.
Brian Smith, WoodGreen's longtime president and CEO, was on hand to greet visitors during the housewarming party.
"This is just a great moment for us. It's just fantastic to see the transformation, a building coming back to life," he said, noting the sheer volume of people at the open house gives WoodGreen the chance to raise awareness about the many social services it offers to east end residents as well as the great need for affordable housing for low-income Torontonians.
"Hopefully this facility will help people make changes in their lives and we're here to support them."
When it was first built, the New Edwin was considered a first-class hotel serving passengers of Grand Trunk Railways who made use of the nearby Riverdale Railway Station, which closed in 1932 and lead to the hotel's slow decline.
By the mid-1970s, the once-grand hotel became an overcrowded and unsafe rooming house for transient men. In 2008, about 40 people lived at the New Edwin Hotel when WoodGreen took possession of the vermin-infested building. Some of the 54 rooms in the former tavern area and basement didn't have windows or proper electricity outlets.
First Step to Home is always in need of personal supplies and household items they may need to get a fresh start in this new chapter in their lives. Anyone interested in contributing is welcome to do so as there is a constant need for household supplies such as towels, pillows, blankets and sheets and other household essentials.
For more information about First Step to Home, call 416-645-6000, ext. 2500 or email firststeptohome@woodgreen.org