Housing

145 Queen Street East

Q: What’s the best kind of housing for people who struggle with mental health and addictions?

That’s a good question.  For decades, Fred Victor has been working on both the individual and community level to find real answers to that question. 

The structural design of the main apartment building at the Queen and Jarvis corner is designed to accommodate a new approach to housing people who have both addictions and mental health issues.  Fred Victor and the Wellesley Institute teamed up to research and make recommendations on harm reduction housing, what works, what doesn’t and how to best create living conditions in the future.

The concrete result of our research is the new Fred Victor Housing. It gives each tenant more private space.  Air conditioning, now essential in apartment living in Toronto during the summer has also been added.  Easy contact with housing staff  is possible through an upgraded intercom system and a higher staff-to-tenant ratio.  The building is fitted with a new fire alarm and suppression system, and energy efficiency features. A single, common entrance to the site, with full-time reception provides a knowledgeable human face to the building.

The newly-renovated apartments were reopened in Spring 2011.

Transitional Housing

Q: It used to be thought that if a person lived outdoors in a ravine or in a doorway for a long time, they came to prefer it. Is this true?

No.  When the City of Toronto does their street count of homeless people, outreach staff ask people on the street if they want a home indoors, or prefer to live rough outdoors. The vast majority of people on the street want housing. That’s a fact. 

So, Fred Victor and the City of Toronto with support also from the Donnolly Foundation now reserves 20 units of Fred Victor Housing on the second floor of 145 Queen Street East for people who need intensive support (case management) for up to a year and where the focus is on getting prepared to move into permanent housing. Once housed, our staff  follow up with each person individually.

Supports to Daily Living

Since January 2007, Fred Victor has provided individual support work to 14 women with mental and physical health barriers who live at 319 Dundas Street.  Two on-site workers work daily to create opportunities for residents and hook them up with other Fred Victor programs.

Family Housing

Q: If you were a parent with two kids, living in overpriced, substandard housing in a neighbourhood that had no services for families, you’d want a real home for your kids, right?

Yes! Very right. A growing number of two- and lone-parent families are turning to Fred Victor for permanent housing and a positive community environment. Women and men with children who are working, but make low incomes, desperately need affordable housing in a safe neighbourhood.  Women who leave abusive relationships, often leave with nothing except their children. They desperately need a secure place to heal and raise their family.

Fred Victor has two apartment buildings in east end Toronto.  Rent is geared to income.

I moved into Fred Victor’s Dawes Road Housing three years ago and that move meant I was reunited with my youngest son. A few years earlier, I struggled with addiction and lived in Peterborough with an abusive partner. When I finally managed to leave, I was homeless. I moved to Toronto for addiction treatment and my son left to live with his grandmother. (My other two sons are older and live on their own.) Living at Dawes Road Housing has given me a new beginning, a sense of community and hope. Since my rent is geared to my income, I can focus on my recovery and parenting. This has also meant I don’t have to be dependent on having a man in my life to make sure the rent gets paid. I have slowly transitioned back to work and now have a job at a landscaping company.

This community and Fred Victor have given us so much and we feel safe here. Because of this, I offer to help out whenever I can, doing things such as raking the lawns and organizing special events for the residents. And recently, I worked as a Peer Art Assistant with Fred Victor’s Open House program.

Fred Victor has been supportive of my journey, encouraging me and lifting me every step of the way.

Continue to Housing Access Support Services