In this exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Brian Harris, the Executive Director of St. Felix Centre, shares his invaluable insights into the transformative power of affordable and supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. With his extensive experience in leading community-based initiatives, Brian discusses the vision behind Hope House, a project designed specifically to support women and children facing homelessness due to domestic violence. He emphasizes the critical role that government funding and community support play in ensuring the success and sustainability of such projects. Through real-life success stories and thoughtful leadership, Brian highlights how supportive housing can help individuals regain stability and independence. As the future of homelessness solutions evolves, Brian shares his advice on how organizations and policymakers can contribute to reducing homelessness and creating lasting change. In this interview, he illustrates the immense potential of compassionate, dignity-first care in helping vulnerable populations find hope and a path forward.
Brian Harris is the Executive Director of St. Felix Centre, a leading organization dedicated to supporting individuals experiencing homelessness in Toronto. With a strong focus on providing emergency shelter, supportive housing, and case management, Brian leads the Centre in its mission to offer compassionate, dignity-first care to vulnerable populations.
How do affordable and supportive housing solutions like Hope House create lasting change for individuals experiencing homelessness, and what specific outcomes do you hope to achieve with this project?
Without being able to have a safe, secure and permanent home, it is nearly impossible for individuals to break out of the cycle of poverty. Affordable, supportive housing like Hope House creates that opportunity for a person to have the peace of mind they need to shift from survival mode to being able to engage with their goals. With this project specifically, we’re hoping to see women make the important steps towards independence. Working with their dedicated case workers, and knowing that they have a space that is truly theirs, we’re excited to see women achieve things like returning to school, achieving employment, and very critically for many – reuniting with their children.
How does Hope House plan to support women and children facing homelessness due to domestic violence and hidden homelessness? What facilities and services will help them transition to stable living?
Each resident will be assigned a case worker that will be a dedicated support for them as they settle into their new housing. These staff are trained and knowledgeable about a variety of supportive options for women who have been subjected to domestic violence. In addition to that one on one, dedicated support, the building is staffed 24/7 with workers with a social service background. They’re role is to respond to any requests for support that happen outside of regular office hours and to help ensure that the grounds and the building are secure. Lastly the facility itself will be equipped with a very robust security monitoring and access control system which will hopefully provide women and their children with a sense of safety and security in their new home. This service model will enable women to have trained staff onsite at all times to help them feel secure.
What are your thoughts on the role of government funding and community support in ensuring the sustainability and effectiveness of supportive housing projects like Hope House, and how do you see these partnerships evolving in the future?
Government funding is critical to ensure affordability given the realities of the current real estate market. The City of Toronto will provide rental supplements to each resident to ensure that their rent is geared to their income. This means that a tenant will never pay more than 30% of their gross income on rent. This financial stability is a huge component to ensuring that new tenants are successful in transitioning into permanent housing.
Community support is also incredibly important as there is unfortunately a lot of stigma around people who have been unhoused or used the shelter system. We’re hopeful that programs like Hope House can demonstrate that supportive housing can seamlessly integrate into existing communities.
Can you share some real-life stories or examples of how supportive housing initiatives have helped individuals transition from homelessness to stability? What lessons can be learned from these experiences that might inform future housing projects?
We have had the privilege of supporting many success stories over the years – some through our own programming and some through employment opportunities in our programs – and the key takeaway in our experience is that people need to feel secure and they need a model of supportive service that is adaptive to their needs. Our hope is that all future housing projects will receive government support in the form of rental supplements to ensure affordability and that the staff models ensure that there are supports onsite 24/7.
What advice would you give to organizations and policymakers aiming to significantly reduce homelessness through supportive housing, and how can they best support initiatives similar to Hope House?
We would encourage any organization and policymakers to really strive to maximize the resources they have available when it comes to land. In our case, prior to this project St Felix Centre did not own the land and it was through a generous donation of the property by the Felician Sisters that we were able to engage with this development opportunity. On the policymaker side, it’s crucial to delivering these projects in a timely way to ensure that as much “red tape” is removed as possible. Additionally waiver certain development fees and taxes for non-profits who are building affordable housing is really the only way to make these projects viable.
