97 Victoria St N: Making Home
About Making Home
Since 2005, The Working Centre has been creating a campus of projects at 97 Victoria N. During that time St. John’s Kitchen anchored the campus on the second floor of 97 Victoria, while Worth A Second Look Furniture and Housewares Thrift Store operated from the first floor. We purchased and renovated two houses into a Hospitality House for those without housing and acutely ill. Another house was bought for Community Dental. In 2019, we dreamed of radically altering the campus. This plan became known as Making Home.
The main goal was to address growing homelessness, a reality we saw each day at St. John’s Kitchen. Making Home is designed to assist people with the transition to housing and to create supports towards developing social stability. Those dealing with long periods of homelessness often face a journey working through the dislocation of mental health and addiction issues.
The project combines six changes to the 97 Victoria property.
- A third floor is added to the 97 Victoria building for the building of 22 units of housing.
- The existing second floor is being renovated for an additional 22 units of housing. In total 44 units are being constructed.
- The main floor renovation will provide about 3000 square feet of medical clinic, counselling and community support space.
- The other half of the main floor will be renovated for public washrooms, showers and a laundry area. This section will also be the main entrance to the new housing
- In the former parking lot, a new mass timber building will be the new home for St. John’s Kitchen.
- Tying it all together is a landscaped courtyard that will serve as the meeting place between St. John’s Kitchen, the new housing units and the medical clinic. Also in the courtyard will be the Hospitality House and the Community Dental clinic.
Making Home is a gigantic effort that has involved 100’s of people and organizations that have contributed time, money, resources and skills to help make this important important community resource a success.
By embedding housing in this practical village of supports, we build on the collective power of community, practical services, and a sense of belonging.
Learn more about Making Home by visiting the Making Home website for project updates. That site also hosts our Capital Campaign helping to make this project possible.
Also, view Making Home – a Visual Journey with glimpses of a book with photographs by Douglas MacLellan.
Contact Information
Making Home
Email: [email protected]