A walk through Edmond Place reveals architecture that mixes old and new and a housing project that combines support and dignity for the people who will soon live there.
"If you move in here you are going to get food provided and you are also going to get housekeeping services because it's like a boarding home model," said Victor Willis during a recent tour of the building. "The idea being that those supports are there when you need them, but invisible the rest of the time."
Even though it's still under construction Willis, executive director at the Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre (PARC), doesn't hesitate in dubbing this unique model of supportive housing a success.
"We hope that starts to become the new standard in supportive housing," Willis said.
Built in the early 1900s, 1495 Queen St. W. was originally 12 luxury apartments, but in the early 1990s those were divided into tiny rooms to create one of Toronto's largest boarding houses. It became home to some of the city's most vulnerable residents until Sept. 16, 1998 when a fire broke out on the second floor landing, killing two people and leaving 48 others homeless.
PARC began planning and fundraising for the Edmond Place project after acquiring the building, which sat empty for 10 years before it was expropriated by the city. Construction began last fall and Edmond Place is now about 85 per cent complete.
Edmond Place is named after Edmond Yu, who lived in the building years. He had been evicted and later shot by police during an altercation. Willis explained the hope has been that Edmond Place would offer the kind of housing where someone like Edmond Yu would have thrived.
The 29 new units will have constant security and support programs to allow people to live successfully, independently and with dignity.
The main entrance will be on Dowling Avenue as opposed to Queen Street (the official address of the building is 194 Dowling Ave.) leaving behind the history of the old address.
Through the grand entrance there will be a light fixture by Public Displays of Affection, a collective of young designers working with PARC to furnish Edmond Place.
Just inside the entrance will be a vestibule then through a second secure door an elevator. This added to the cost of construction, but Willis said it is believed to be a very appropriate investment.
"This is part of our vision that people should be able to age in place," Willis explained. "So having an elevator that services all of the floors makes it a much more accessible building."
In fact the entire first floor was raised on the inside of the building so there are no steps or ramps from street level.
There are four amenity spaces, one on each floor, two of which have full kitchens for residents to use and possibly hold cooking classes, but also for community engagement or a community event, Willis said,
The units are a mix of bachelors and one-bedroom apartments. They vary in size and layout.
"These are the ones that are probably the most contentious," Willis said while standing in the smallest bachelor found on the second floor, which caused some community members to be concerned about the cramped size of the units during the planning stages.
There are eight of these smaller bachelors in the building. They're 200 square feet, but Willis said some of the bachelor apartments in Parkdale are 165 square feet.
"We think we have designed these well enough that we think they are going to be comfortable for someone," he said. "We anticipate, although this is long-term housing, for some these may be more transitional."
And for others, Willis explained, a small unit is preferred. The individual chosen to live in the units will be taken into consideration during the selection process.
"We know that in our units next door (at PARC) we have had people who have had difficulty with larger units. It is just too much space," Willis said. "They may be coming from a boarding home where they may have had one room or shared a room."
Each unit has a new bathroom with bright white subway tiling and a kitchen, which had yet to be installed at the time of the tour. Eventually vinyl strip wood flooring will be installed.
"It doesn't need the maintenance of wood and in fact it is commercial grade," Willis said.
The fourth floor of the building is a modern addition to the formerly three-storey heritage building. The units on this floor have huge, bright windows with views of Queen Street below.
By mid-September the building will be turned over to PARC at which point Willis said there will be open houses for the community, partners and supporters.
"October and November is when we will welcome people in, December will be training and orientation for staff and January (2011) people move in," Willis said.
The Edmond Place supportive housing project, which has a price tag of $6.9 million, is ahead of schedule and under budget as of the first week in August.
"The city, the contractor and the designer are all looking at it with a sense that they are involved in doing something amazing," Willis said. "The project has been really blessed with everyone's care and attention."